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HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 



WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 



mil til 



MILNER'S 
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 

OF 

WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL, 

WITH A 

SUPPLEMENT, 

DESCRIBING 

THE ALTERATIONS AND REPAIRS. 



Redditus his primum terris tibi, Christe, sacravit 
Sedem hanc Birinus, posuitque immania templa. 

JEneid, 1. v. 



NINTH EDITION. 

WINCHESTER :' : " '' 

ROBBTNS AND WHEELER, BOOKSELLERS 
TO THE COLLEGE. 

3 



\ 



HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION 

OF 

WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. 

CHAP. I. 

Antiquity of Winchester Cathedral. — Foundation of it by King 
Lucius. — Its Situation, Architecture, Dimensions, and Title. 
— First Destruction of the Cathedral, and second Building of 
it in the time of Constantine. — Its fate at the Saxon Conquest. 
— Re-built with great magnificence by the two first Christian 
Kings of the West Saxons. — Again rebuilt, enriched with 
Crypts, and dedicated by St. Ethelwold. — Occasion of its 
being re-built for the fourth Time after the Norman Conquest. 
— The Style and Order in which this W r ork was carried on. 
— Description of the Parts of it which still remain. — The 
Saxon Work, at the East End, replaced with early Gothic, 
by Bishop Godfrey de Lucy. — His Workmanship ascertained. 
Errors of former Writers. — Edington undertakes to repair 
the West End in the improved Gothic Style. — His Work 
pointed out. — Errors of Bishop Lowth. — The genuine His- 
tory of Wykeham's Works in the Cathedral. — Description 
of the Works of Bishop Fox and Prior Silkstead, at the east 
end of the church, in the 16th Century. 

THE sacred edifice before us is perhaps 
the most venerable and interesting object 
within the compass of the island, now that 
Glassenbury is destroyed ; whether we con- 
sider the antiquity of its foundation, the im- 
portance of the scenes which have been trans- 
acted in it, or the character of the personages 

a2 



6 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

with whose mortal remains it is enriched and 
hallowed. The ancient historian of this 
cathedral, 0) quoting authors whose works 
were extant in his time, and who appear to 
have lived several centuries before him, (2) 
informs us that this religious structure was 
first built by our British prince, Lucius, in 
the second century of the Christian aera, being 
the first royal personage in the world who 
had the courage to profess himself the dis- 
ciple of a crucified master ; and that he dis- 
tinguished this, among similar foundations, 
by peculiar marks of his respect and muni- 
ficence. Indeed, if we can depend upon the 
accuracy of the dimensions set down by 
these ancient authors, our cathedral, cele- 
brated as it now is for being superior in 
length to all the other churches of the king- 
dom, is still by no means equal in this or in 
any of its other proportions to those in which 
it was originally built by its first founder, 
Lucius. (3) As the Grecian architecture was 

( 1 ) Thomas Rudborne, one of the monks of this cathe- 
dral in the middle of the 15th century, cited by Usher in 
his Primordia, Cressey, Stephens, &c. now published by 
Henry Wharton in his Anglia Sacra, vol. i. 

(2) For the numerous authorities made use of in this 
publication, the reader is referred to the History and Sur- 
vey of Winchester, 

(3) Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1; i. c. 6, whom Usher and 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 7 

then perfectly understood and practised, and 
as South Britain was at the same time in the 
highest state of civilization and refinement, 
we cannot doubt of the cathedral's being built 
in that style ; though Rudborne and his au- 
thorities assure us that its form was the same 
that it has ever since worn> namely, that of 
a cross. (0 Together with the church itself, 

Stephens follow, tells us, on the authority of Moratius, 
that the church built by Lucius was 209 paces long, which, 
according to the computation of one of the above-men- 
tioned writers, must at least be equal to 600 feet. The 
same author tells us that the church was 80 paces broad, 
and 92 paces high. According to this account, supposing, 
what is probable, that the structure did not extend so far 
as it does at present to the west, it must have reached to 
the east a certain space into Colebrook-street, in a part of 
which we learn that there was a Pagan temple of Concord, 
as there was another dedicated to Apollo, not far from 
thence, in a southern direction. It does not appear from 
this account that Lucius was at liberty to destroy these 
Heathen temples, though he built a Christian church near 
them. In confirmation of the conjecture stated above, 
that the cathedral built by Lucius extended farther to the 
east than it does at present, it is proper to mention that, at 
the bottom of the stream which was made by St. Ethelwold 
in the 10th century to run near the east end of the church, 
there are at present, or were lately, foundations of large 
walls, in the same direction with it. 

(l) c Ab uno cornu, ex transverso ecclesias in alterum, 
erant ' passus 180.' " Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. i. c. 6, ex Moratio. 
Numerous and magnificent churches were built, during the 
second and third centuries, in different parts of the Roman 
empire, where Christianity was not so much encouraged as 



8 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

tliis religious prince mast have built a bap- 
tistery, which, according to the discipline of 
those times, was always a distinct and sepa- 
rate building, and we are assured that he 
erected an extensive mansion 0) for the ha- 
bitation of the clergy, whom he liberally en- 
dowed to perform divine service in this 
cathedral of Venta Belgarum. The church 
being finished, was dedicated in honour of 
The Holy Saviour, by the British apostles, 
Fugatius and Duvianus, sent hither from 
Rome at the request of Lucius, by pope 
Eleutherius, who also ordained a prelate for 
this see, by name Dinotus. 

When this noble basilic had subsisted about 
120 years, it was levelled with the ground ; 
and the clergy belonging to it, except a few 
who saved themselves by flight, were mar- 
tyred (2) in the great persecution raised by 

it was in Britain. See Le Brun, Messe Expliq. tome ii. 
Bingham's Christian Antiquities, book viii. The forms of 
these primitive churches were various ; oblong, octagonal, 
round, and in the shape of a cross. In particular, the mag- 
nificent church of the Apostles at Constantinople, which 
was encrusted with marble, ceiled with plates of gold, and 
covered with tiles of gilt brass, was of the last-mentioned 
shape. Euseb. Vit. Const. S. Greg. Nazian. Bing- 
ham Ecc. Antiq. 

(1) According to Rudborne it must have been nearly 
600 feet in length and 120 in breadth, being situated con- 
siderably more to the east than the monastery of later date. 

(2) Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. i. c. iv. — This writer takes 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 9 

Dioclesian towards the conclusion of the 
third century ; which raged with equal vio- 
lence against the Christians in every other 
part of Britain^ and of the whole Roman em- 
pire. This storm being appeased when Con- 
stantius Chlorus assumed the purple, the 
cathedral of Venta was a second time re- 
built ; being finished, at the latest, in 313. 
0) But this work being now executed, not 
at the expense of an opulent prince, as had 
been the case before, but by the contributions 
of private Christians, who, during the late 
persecution, had been impoverished, and re- 
duced even to live in the forests ; the struc- 
ture was much less extensive and magnifi- 
cent than it had been. The form and archi- 
tecture of it, however, were the same that 
have been mentioned above ; but as the art 
of building had greatly declined between the 
reigns of Antonius and Constantine,(2) so we 

great pains to persuade us that they were monks of an 
order anterior to the ages both of St. Benedict and St. 
Antony, namely, those instituted by St. Mark at Alexan- 
dria. It would be a loss of time to confute an account so 
glaringly improbable. 

(1) Rudborne says, the church was re-built 22 years 
after its destruction, or in the year 293 ; but it is remarked, 
in the History and Survey of Winchester, vol. i. p. 49, 
that this author has set his chronological seale above 20 
years too forward, 

(2) This is manifest from an attentive examination of 
the architecture of Constantine's triumphal arch at Home. 



10 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

may rest assured that the second structure 
was inferior to the first in beauty as well as 
in extent. At this time Constans was bishop 
of Venta, who consecrated the new basilic 
in honour of St. Amphiballus, the instructor 
of St. Alban, and his fellow sufferer in the 
late persecution. When this city fell under 
the power of our Pagan ancestors, the West 
Saxons, about the year 516, all its clergy, 
together with the lay inhabitants, were swept 
away in one promiscuous slaughter. The 
cathedral itself, however, instead of being 
destroyed by the victorious Cerdic, was re- 
paired by him, and turned into a temple of 
his native gods, in which he caused himself 
to be solemnly crowned king of the West 
Saxons in the year 519. 

Upon the conversion of Kinegils, who, 
with a great part of his subjects, embraced 
the Christian faith in 635, at the preaching 
of St. Birinus, the envoy of pope Honorius, 
the ancient cathedral was still subsisting, 
though profaned, as we have said, by pagan 
rites ; and therefore might, with more ease and 
propriety, have been again applied to the pur- 
poses of a Christian church, than could these 
heathen temples, which the Saxons them- 
selves had raised, and which pope Gregory 
had nevertheless permitted to be consecrated 
to the worship of the true God. But the 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 11 

royal convert/ being inflamed with zeal for 
his religion, and gratitude towards his in- 
structor, O) was resolved upon re-building 
this, which was always intended to be the 
principal cathedral of the west, (2) with the 
greatest magnificence in his power. He was 
actually employed in executing this religious 
design, having taken down the former fabric, 
(3) and he had collected an immense quan- 
tity of materials for the work, when he was 
carried off by death ; and the building, as we 
have stated, was interrupted for a few years, 
until at length it was completed bykingKene- 
walch,the son of Kinegils,upon a scale of extent 
and with an elegance which seems to have been 

(1) " Iste (Kinegilsus) dedit S. Birino civitatem Dor- 
cacestriam ut sederet interim in ea, donee conderet eccle- 
siam tanto pontifice dignam in regia civitate." Annales 
Wint. 

(2) " In votis ejus (Kinegilsi) erat in Wintonia aedifi- 
eare templum praecipuum, collectisjam plurimis ad opus 
asdificii." Annal. Wint. — " Eodem tempore (an. 544) 
Kenewalchus sedem episcopalem in Wintonia fundavit." 
Mat. West. 

(3) " Incoepit fundare ecclesiam cathedralem Wynton, 
destruens illud templum Dagon quod Cerdicus construx- 
erat." Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. ii.-c. i. — It is the opinion of 
Burton, Camden, and other highly respectable antiquaries, 
that the mass of ruins at the west end of the present cathe- 
dral, formed part of the building belonging to this ancient 
cathedral-— an opinion which we can by no means 
assent to. 



12 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

unprecedented in this island since the Saxon 
conquest. Our apostle, St. Birinus, had the 
satisfaction of seeing this royal foundation 
completed before his death, and consecrating 
it in person ; which he performed in the name 
of the Holy Trinity, and of the apostles, St. 
Peter and St. Paul, in 548, a short time be- 
fore his happy dissolution. 

During the fifty years which had inter- 
vened since the first preaching of the gospel 
to the Saxons, our ancestors had, by the in- 
struction of their preacher/ 1 ) and their fre- 
quent intercourse with France and Italy, 
abandoned their former rude style of build- 
ing : the materials of which, even in their 
churches, were only the trunks of trees, sawn 
asunder and placed beside each other, with 
a covering of thatch ; (2) a style of building, 
which at the time we are speaking of, still 
prevailed in the northern part of the island ; 
and they quickly learnt, not only to build 
with hewn stone, but also to cover their 
churches with lead, to glaze the windows of 

(1) " Curavit rex (Edwinus) docente eodem Paulino, 
majorem, ipso in loco, et augustiorem de lapide fabricare 
basilicam." Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. ii. c. xiv. 

(2) Hen. Hunt, Hist. 1. iii. — u Ecclesiam, more Scoto- 
rum, non de lapide sed de robore secto totam composuit, 
atque arundine texit. Idem, 1. iii. c. xxv. Idem, 1. Y. 
c. xxii. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 13 

them, and to adorn them with religious 
paintings. 0) The person who contributed 
most to the introduction of these arts into 
the island, was the famous abbot, St. Bennet 
Biscop ; who, being the intimate friend and 
occasionally the guest of Kenewalch, no 
doubt assisted him with his own talents and 
experience, as also with the skill of the artists 
whom he procured from abroad, in build- 
ing the cathedral of this city in that superior 
style of elegance in which it is said to have 
been wised. If we admit, what seems hardly 
credible, that the ground plan of Kenewalch's 
cathedral was as extensive as that which was 
afterwards raised by Walkelin, after the Nor- 
man conquest, or, in other words, as exten- 
sive as it is at the present day ; yet we may 
rest satisfied, from the improvements that 
were made in our national architecture at the 
last mentioned period, that it was by no 
means equal to it in loftiness and magnifi- 
cence. This structure, thus raised, remained 
unimpaired until the first conquest of the 
island by the Danes, after the death of our 
renowned St. Swithun ; when this city falling 

(1) The church of Weremouth was ornamented with 
pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Apostles, and 
of the Visions in the book of the Revelations, by its 
founder, St. Bennet Biscop, as Bede expressly says, in 
his History of the Abbots of that Monastery. 

a3 



14 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

into their hands, the cathedral clergy were 
all massacred, and the fabric itself, in all 
appearance, suffered great damage ; as we 
find, soon afterwards, a particular provision 
made by one of its bishops for repairing it. 
It is not to be supposed that the famous 
Saxon architect, St. Ethelwold, who built so 
many churches and monasteries in different 
parts of the kingdom, would neglect the 
cathedral of his own see, and of his na- 
tive city ; on the contrary, we are assured, 
that it was an object which he hail very 
much at heart, to re-build it from the ground. 
This he accordingly performed with great 
diligence, obliging his monks to assist in the 
work. He, at the same time, enriched it 
with its subterraneous crypts, which it be- 
fore had wanted ;0) as also with the stream 
of water, which he introduced into the princi- 
pal offices of the monastery, as he did other 
streams into different parts of the city. He 
lived to complete this great undertaking; 
which being done, he, in the year 980, con- 
secrated the new structure with great so- 

(1) Crypts, called also Confessiones and Martyria, 
were subterraneous chapels, which were usually dug under 
the principal churches, and at first appropriated to the 
burial of the martyrs or other saints. Hence they were 
places of great devotion, and, being provided with altars, 
mass was sometimes celebrated in them. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 15 

lemnity in the presence of King Ethelred, 
St. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, and 
eight other bishops. It was dedicated under 
the same title of St. Peter and St. Paul, 
which St. Birinus had conferred upon it ; but 
the body of St. Swithun, having a little be- 
fore been transferred from the church-yard, 
where it had been buried in conformity with 
his own directions, into the church itself, in 
which a sumptuous shrine had been provided 
by King Edgar for its reception, and the 
whole kingdom resounding with the fame of 
the miracles wrought by his intercession ; it 
was thought proper to add the name of this 
saint to those of its former patrons ; which 
title, for the reason just mentioned, soon be- 
coming highly celebrated, the cathedral itself 
and the priory belonging to it were hence- 
forward, down to the time of Henry VIII. 
distinguished by the name of St. Swithun. 

It is probable that the structure of St. 
Ethelwold was of no greater height and ex- 
tent than that of Kenewalch ; and, indeed, 
that the former not only made use of the 
loose materials of the ancient building, but 
also incorporated such parts of it as he found 
of sufficient strength to be left standing. It 
is the opinion of a learned antiquary, that a 
considerable part of this Saxon cathedral, 
built by St. Ethelwold and King Edgar, is 



16 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

still in being ; namely, the low-built aisles 
at the east end of the fabric, where the tombs 
of Beaufort and Waynflete are now seen :0) 
but his assertion, that the style of the archi- 
tecture here is more simple and confined 
thon that of Walkelin, is manifestly erro- 
neous, whether we examine the inside or 
the outside of the building in question. It 
is not, indeed,, so lofty as the transepts are, 
which are unquestionably the work of Wal- 
kelin ; but neither are the chapels behind the 
high altar in other cathedrals so lofty as the 
transept and naves of them are, being con- 
sidered as rooms distinct from them. Inde- 
pendently, however, of this reasoning, the 
architecture of these aisles, as we shall see, 
bespeaks a much later date than that of the 
Norman Walkelin. All then that remains 
visible of the works of St. Ethelwold, are 
the crypts themselves, or the chapel under 
the part that we have been speaking of; the 
walls, pillars, and groining of which remain 
in much the same state as that in which he 
left them, (2) and are executed in a firm and 

(1) Description of the City, &c. of Winchester, by 
the Rev. Thomas Warton, p. 63. 

(2) The chief alterations in them, of a later date, are 
the following : — 1 . A new crypt, with pointed arches, has 
been made under the eastern extremity of the Lady Chapel. 
— 2. Several masses of masonry have been raised in various 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 17 

bold, though simple and unadorned manner, 
which gives no contemptible idea of Saxon 
art. 

It is impossible to suppose that a church, 
which had been built by so able an architect, 
and in so substantial a manner, could want 
re-building in less than a century, when 
bishop Walkelin actually undertook this great 
work. It is true it had, during this time, 
fallen a second time under the pagan Danes ; 
but as the city, on this occasion, surrendered 
itself to them without any resistance, so it 
seems now to have been exempt from any 
signal devastation. At all events we may be 
assured, that whatever damage the impious 
Swayne might have done to the cathedral, 
his religious son, Canute, one of the chief 
of all its royal benefactors, amply repaired. 
It was not, then, from any real necessity for 
such a work, that our first Norman bishop 
re-built the cathedral ; but the fact is, the 
Normans in general, being a refined and 

parts of them, either to form sepulchres for bodies, the 
monuments of which are above, or to support the fabric 
over them, which in these parts is exceedingly defective.— 
3. A great quantity of rubbish and earth has accumulated 
on the pavement which covers it, as also the bases of the 
pillars.— 4. The entrance into them, through the Holy 
Hole, has been obstructed by bishop Fox, and another 
has been made by him from the Water Close, under the 
south-east aisle of the fabric. 

a4 



18 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

high-spirited people, held the Saxons, with 
all their arts, learning, and whatever else 
belonged to them, in the most sovereign 
contempt. In particular, they almost every 
where threw down the chief churches of the 
vanquished people, and re-built them in a 
more noble and magnificent style, which 
they had learnt in their own country. 0) As 
the bishopric of Winchester was undoubtedly 
the first in England in point of wealth, and 
about this time synodically declared to be 
the second in point of dignity ; so Walkelin, 
whose mind was not less noble and vast than 
that of his relation, the Conqueror, took 
pains that its cathedral should not be inferior 
to those which several other bishops, his 
countrymen, were at the same time erecting 
in different sees. We are enabled to form 
some idea of the greatness of the work in 
hand, and of the ardour with which he pro- 
secuted it, from the adventure mentioned in 
the History and Survey of Winchester, vol. i. 
p. 195, of his cutting down a whole forest, 
in order to supply part of the timber neces- 
sary for completing it. It was not, however, 
the church alone that this prelate undertook 

( 1 ) " Videas ubique in villis ecclesias, in vicis et ur- 
bibus monasteria, novoedificandigenere, exsurgere." Will. 
Malm. De Reg. 1. iii. " Monasteria surgebant, religione 
Vetera, aedificiis recentia." Ibid. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 19 

to re-build, but also the extensive and nu- 
merous offices of the adjoining monastery, 
all which he actually completed at his own 
expence : so that amongst all the great and 
munificent prelates, who have been founders 
and benefactors of this cathedral, the name 
of Walkelin undoubtedly claims the first 
place ; and, as a celebrated historian says, 
will remain immortal, like the works which 
he has made, as long as an episcopal see 
shall remain at Winchester. 

To understand, in a distinct manner, what 
works were actually executed by Walkelin, 
and to reconcile certain apparent contradic- 
tions in our Winchester annalists and other 
ancient writers, it seems necessary to admit 
the following particulars. The Saxon church 
built by Kenewalch, and re-built by St. 
Ethelwold, had the same limits to the east 
that the church has had ever since ;0) but 
it did not extend so far towards the west, 
probably by 150 feet, as Walkelin after- 
wards built it. (2) In consequence of this 

(1) We may be assured that St. Ethelwold's church did 
not reach beyond the stream of water which he introduced 
into the monastery. Now the present fabric reaches almost 
to the border of it.' 

(2) Not to mention the great improbability that the low 
Saxon church was 550 feet long ; there are other argu- 
ments, drawn from Rudbome and Malmsbury's account 



20 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

scale of the ancient church, its high altar, 0) 
tower, (2) transept, and the habitations of 

of the relative situation and extent of the New Minster 
church, which was parallel with the cathedral, and of the 
old cemetry or church-yard, which seem to prove that the 
Saxon church did not extend so far to the west as it does 
at present, 

(1) It is plain, from the Winchester Annalist, that there 
was a high altar of the ancient church, which co-existed 
with that of the new church, and which therefore must 
have stood to the east of it. Vid. An. J 024. 

(2) That there was a tower belonging to the Saxon church, 
situated to the east of the present tower, and which con- 
tinued long to exist with it, is probable, not only from the 
general scale of the building, but also from the following 
circumstances. The tomb of William Rufus stood under 
a certain tower of the church, which falling down, covered 
it with ruins. But this tomb neither now is, nor appears 
ever to have been, under the present tower, which, as 
Rudborne remarks, was built in too firm a manner to have 
fallen down so soon after its erection. 2dly, We are told 
by the Annalist, that in 1214 the weathercock (flabellum) 
falling from the tower, broke the shrine of St. Swithun, 
which must have stood near the high altar ; now it was 
impossible that any heavy substance falling from the top of 
the present tower should come near that situation. We 
are sensible that the present hypothesis does not agree with 
that of Rudborne, who is embarrassed to account for the 
circumstance of the tower falling upon Rufus's tomb. Ang. 
Sac. vol. i. p. 271. But, in admitting his facts, we are 
not obliged to follow his conjectures, which may be seen 
in the passage here quoted. What is advanced above, seems 
to be the only way of reconciling Rudborne with himself, 
who in a preceding passage, p. %56 9 has told us : " Walke- 
linus episcopus fieri fecit turrim ecclesiae Wintoniensis ut 
modo cernitur." 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL- 21 

the monks, were considerably more to the 
east, than they were afterwards placed, 
Walkelin began his work by taking down 
all that part of the church which was to the 
west of the aforesaid tower; in the place 
of which he built up from the foundations 
the present large and massive tower, which 
hence bore his name, the lofty and capacious 
north and south transepts, and the body of 
the church of the same height with them, 
and reaching to the fall extent of the pre- 
sent fabric. He also built new cloisters, 
with all the other offices requisite for a ca- 
thedral monastery : such as a chapter-hoase, 
dormitories, a refectory, kitchen, &c. in 
the situation which they ever afterwards 
held, on the south-west side of the church. 
In effecting this latter work, he was under 
the necessity of taking down the western 
end of the ancient monastery, yet so as to 
leave a sufficient part of it and of the church 
itself standing, for the dwelling and the 
regular exercises of the monks. The wfyole 
of this great work was completed within the 
space of fourteen years, having been begun 
in 1079, and finished in 1093, in which 
year, on the 8th of April, the monks went 
in triumph from their old to their new mo- 
nastery ; on which occasion a great solem- 
nity was held, which was graced with the 



22 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

presence of most of the bishops and abbots 
of England. On the 15th of July, in the 
same year, it being St, Swithnn's festival, 
the shrine of that saint was carried in pro- 
cession from the old high altar to the new 
one, a distance probably of not more than 
forty feet, but which was, no doubt, length- 
ened by making the usual circuit of the clois- 
ters. In the course of the year, Walkelin 
took down the offices which had been left 
standing of the ancient monastery, as also 
the transepts, and whatever else remained 
of the ancient church, except the old high 
altar and the eastern aisles, in the centre of 
which it was placed. In the next year it is 
probable that the old high altar, being no 
longer necessary, was removed, as certain 
relics of St. Swithun, and those of several 
other saints, were then found under it. 

We have abundant specimens remaining 
of the work of the above-mentioned Nor- 
man prelate. The most conspicuous of these 
is the square massive tower, 140 feet high, 
and 50 feet broad ; which is seen at the 
present day, in as perfect and firm a state, 
to all appearance, as when it was first built, 
700 years ago, and which was celebrated in 
ancient times for being the firmest in all 
England. It bears intrinsic evidence of the 
age in which it was built, in the general 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 23 

simplicity and massiveness of its architec- 
ture, in its circular windows adorned with 
the chevron and billetted mouldings, and in 
the capitals and ornanents of its pillars. It 
is frequently asked, why a tower of such great 
strength is destitute of a steeple ? The fact 
is, it was built before steeples were invented, 
these being the natural growth of the pointed 
arch, as we shall elsewhere show. The 
purposes which it was intended to answer 
were, in point of use, to serve as a lan- 
thorn to the choir, which actually stands in 
need of such a contrivance, and, in point of 
effect, to give an idea of height when viewed 
from the inside ; a proportion which, no 
less than length, the Normans affected to 
carry, as far as possible, in their sacred 
edifices. That such were the purposes of 
the tower, is clear from the inside of it ; 
as in both its stories above the present ceil- 
ing, and up to its very covering, it is 
finished with the utmost care, and embel- 
lished with various ornaments, chiefly those 
above-mentioned. The lower of these sto- 
ries, if not the whole of the tower, w r as 
actually open until the reign of Charles I. 
The two transepts are also the work of 
Walkelin ; and though they have been the 
most neglected of any part of the fabric, 
yet are they in a far more firm and secure 



24 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

state than any portion of the building that 
is of a later construction. It is necessary, 
however, in viewing this and other ancient 
fabrics, carefully to distinguish the original 
work from the alterations which have since 
been introduced into them. Of the former 
sort are the walls up to the very summit of 
them, with their thin perpendicular but- 
tresses, and their narrow simple mouldings ; 
as also their interlaced archwork on the 
upper part of the south transept above the 
clock, forming, perhaps, the first rudiment 
of the pointed arch extant in England. Of 
the same date and workmanship are the 
whole of several windows in both transepts ; 
being large and well proportioned, with cir- 
cular heads ornamented with the biiletted 
moulding, and supported on each side by a 
plain Saxon pillar, with a rude kind of 
square frieze and cornice, resembling those 
which are seen between the lights in the 
tower. The alterations that have been in- 
troduced into the transepts, since the time of 
Walkelin, are chiefly found in the windows. 
A great proportion of these have been changed, 
at different periods, and in various styles and 
fashions. In many of them, the circular 
arch and biiletted moulding are left to re- 
main, and a pointed window, with Gothic 
mullions, is inserted under them. In others, 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 25 

these have been quite taken away, and a 
pointed arch has been made to receive the 
Gothic window. In like manner the St. 
Catharine's wheels on the north front of the 
said transept^ is evidently of later date than 
the Norman founder. 

The next of our bishops who signalized 
himself in repairing his cathedral, was that 
eminent prelate, Godfrey de Lucy. In the 
course of a century after the death of Walke- 
lin, we may suppose that the Saxon work, 
which the latter had left remaining to the 
east of the high altar, with the small tower 
over it, was become out of repair ; he ac- 
cordingly rebuilt them in the architecture of 
the times, commencing with the tower, 
which was begun and finished in the year 
1200. 0) He then formed a confraternity or 
society of workmen, with whom he entered 
into terms for completing the other repairs, 
which he was desirous of making ; namely 
for re-building the whole east end of the 
church, with the Lady Chapel/^) as far as 

(1) "Anno 1200, inch oata est et perfecta turns Win- 
toniensis ecclesiae." Annal. Wint. — Independently of 
the many positive assertions of Rudborne, that the present 
great tower was built by Walkelin, the style of it, as we 
have intimated, proves this. There must have then been 
a smaller tower to the east of it, originally built by the 
Saxons, and now re-built by de Lucy. 

(2) In the epitome concerning the bishops of Win- 

a5 



26 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. , 

that anciently extended.G) This he required 
to be performed in the course of five years, 
dating from the year 1202.(2) In the mean 
time, this prelate having paid the debt of 
nature, in 1204, was buried in the centre of 
his own works, as was usual in such cases. 
It might seem impossible for a person, who 
is ever so little skilled in the different periods 
of our sacred architecture, to overlook the 
workmanship of De Lucy, so strongly cha- 
racteristic of the age in which it was exe- 
cuted ; yet this has been done by two cele- 
brated authors of modern times, who have 
treated of the antiquities of Winchester : 
one of whom has indiscriminately attributed 
this, with the other parts of the fabric 
westward of it, to the Norman Walkelin ;( 3 ) 
whilst the other, more inconsistently ascribes, 

Chester, Ang. Sac. vol. i, p. 286, is a mutilated sentence, 
which seems to refer to the works of De Lucy in the ca- 
thedral, and to imply that he rebuilt the church and 
vaulted it, together with the wings, from the high altar 
to the altar of the Blessed Virgin, at the east end, viz. 
" Ad altare B. Marias ad finem cum alis voltam." 

(1) It is easy to discover the addition made to the Lady 
Chapel in the 16th century. 

(2) These confraternities of church builders may per- 
haps have been the origin of Freemasons. 

(3) "The whole fabric then standing (in Wykeham's 
time) was erected by bishop Walkelin," says bishop 
Lowth ; and, in support of his opinion, refers to the 
passages in Rudborne which we have quoted above ; by 
various parts of which it is clearly confuted. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 27 

a still earlier date to it, and supposes it to 
have been built by the Saxons. (0 However, 
there is no person that is a judge of these 
matters, who, viewing the low aisles of the 
church, at the east end of it, there sees, 
both on the outside of it and in the inside, 
the ranges of short pillars supporting arches, 
formed of the upper part of a trefoil; the 
narrow oblong windows in different compart- 
ments, without any mullions ; the obtuse 
angle or lance-like heads of these and of 
the arches themselves ; the clusters of thin 
columns, mostly formed of Purbeck marble, 
with bold and graceful mouldings on the 
capitals and bases ; together with the inter- 
mingled quatrefoils, inscribed in circles by 
way of ornament; there is no such person, 
we repeat, who will hesitate to pronounce 
that the said work was executed in the same 
century with Salisbury cathedral,(2) namely, 

(1) "I am persuaded that the low-built aisles, at the 
east end of the choir, existed before the time of Walkelin, 
and are a part of the old church, erected by the Saxon 
kings." Description of Winchester, &c. by the Rev. 
Thomas Warton, p. 63. — This author, when he wrote 
thus, had probably not paid that attention to ancient archi- 
tecture, which he afterwards displayed in his notes on 
Spencer's Fairy Queen : as the assertion above quoted is 
in direct opposition to the characteristical rules there laid 
down by him. 

(2) Upon comparing together the work of our God- 
frey de Lucy, particularly in the ancient part of the 



28 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

in the 13th, that in which Godfrey de Lucy 
died. 

In consequence of the works of Bishop 
Godfrey, at the east end of the church, this 
part, though less lofty, was far more orna- 
mented and beautiful than the main body of 
the church was ; whose plain walls, huge 
unadorned pillars, and naked timbers in the 
roof, appeared more poor and contemptible 
from the contrast. But when, by degrees, 
the Gothic architectureO) which was in its 
infancy at the beginning of the 18th century, 
had attained to its maturity in the middle of 
the 14th ; and when so many other churches 
throughout the kingdom shone forth with 
all the magic beauty of tracery vaulting, 
spreading columns, shelving buttresses, ta- 
pering pinnacles, canopied niches, statuary 

Lady Chapel, with that afterwards executed by Richard 
Poore at Salisbury, we clearly see that the former served 
as a model for the latter. We must not omit to mention, 
that some windows of a later date have been inserted in 
a part of this building, no less than in that of Walkelin. 

(1) The writer makes use of the term Gothic for the 
architecture in question, as being generally received; 
though he is sensible that the term was introduced for the 
purpose of bringing this style of architecture into con- 
tempt, by real Goths and Vandals, the destroyers of the 
venerable and curious monuments of preceding ages, in 
the 16th century. Many learned persons now include all 
the different periods of the pointed architecture, under the 
general name of the Norman style. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 29 

friezes and corbels, ramified mullions, and 
historical windows ; it was not fitting that 
the cathedral of this opulent and dignified 
bishopric should remain destitute of such 
admired and appropriate improvements. This 
was the real cause of the great work that 
was carried on at the time we are speaking 
of, namely, during the middle and the latter 
part of the 14th century. Not that Walke- 
lin's work was, in the space of 300 years, 
become decayed and insecure, as a learned 
author tells us ;0) since the corresponding 
parts of that very building, namely, the 
transepts, after having stood 400 years longer, 
are still the firmest parts of the whole fabric. 
The prelate who first took this great work 
in hand, was not, as is generally supposed, 
William of Wykeham, but his predecessor 
William of Edington, who was treasurer 
and Chancellor to Edward III. It is in- 
contestible, from his will made and signed 
in the year of his decease, that he had 
actually begun, and undertaken to finish, 
the rebuilding of the great nave of the 
church, though he only lived to execute a 
small part of it. This consisted of the two 
first windows, from the great west window, 
with the corresponding buttresses, and one 
pinnacle on the north side of the church ; 
(1) Lowth's Life of William Wykeham, p. 209. 

a6 



30 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

as likewise the first window towards the 
west, with the buttress and pinnacle on the 
south side. 

The celebrated biographer of William de 
Wykeham has given a detailed account of 
the great works executed at the cathedral 
by that prelate, which contains much useful 
information, and also many mistakes. It 
appears that the prior and monastery, by an 
authentic deed, acquitted the bishop of all 
obligation of executing the work which he 
had taken in hand, and acknowledged that 
it proceeded from his mere liberality and 
zeal for the honour of God ; they agreed to 
find the whole scaffolding necessary for the 
work, and gave the bishop free leave to dig 
and carry away chalk and sand from any of 
their lands, as he might think convenient 
and useful for his purpose; besides allow- 
ing the whole materials of the old building 
to be applied to the use of the new. He 
employed William Winford as his architect, 
and Simon Membury as his surveyor ; whilst 
John Wayte, one of the monks, acted as 
comptroller on the part of the convent. In 
these and other particulars, as far as they 
tend to show that this illustrious prelate 
repaired, and in a certain sense re-built the 
main body of the cathedral, from the tower 
to the west end, in that new invented spe- 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 31 

ties of architecture called the Gothic, the 
learned biographer is supported by incon- 
testible records ; but when he asserts that, 
to effect this, he took down the whole former 
fabric, he is clearly in an error. For let any 
one compare the buttresses, pinnacles, and 
windows which we have ascribed above to 
Edington, with the others in the same range, 
which are the undoubted work of Wykeham, 
and then say whether it is possible that they 
can be all the work of the same architect. 
The four buttresses of Edington, three on 
one side and one on the other, have a greater 
number of breaks than those of Wykeham ; 
his two pinnacles, one on each side, are thicker 
and heavier than those of his successor ; 
finally, his three windows, two on the north 
side and one on the south, do not range with 
the rest of the under windows ; they are not 
of the same form with them, being lower and 
wider, and they do not correspond with them 
in the number of their compartments, those 
of Edington having four in a row, whilst those 
of Wykeham have only three. But not to 
multiply words in a matter so evident, though 
hitherto overlooked, we may clearly trace, 
in the different colours of the stone, and in a 
new set off a little above the two windows on 
the north side, where the work of Edington 
ended, and where that of Wykeham began. 



32 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Nor is it even true that " he took down the 
whole of Walkelin's work, or at most only 
left sixteen feet of the lower order of pillars 
1 elonging to it standing ;" for the original 
Norman pillars may be traced, not only at 
the steps leading up to the choir, where 
there was a sufficient reason for not casing 
theni, but aloft, amidst the very timbers of 
the roof, on both sides of the nave, through- 
out the greater part of its exlent, correspond- 
ing, in every respect, with those which are 
still seen reaching up to the timbers in the 
transepts. In like manner the pointed arches 
between the columns on the first story will be 
found, upon a close inspection, from the in- 
side of the work above the side aisles, not 
to have been originally built in that manner, 
but to have been formed by filling up and 
adapting to that shape the old semi-circular 
arches of Walkelin's second story ; the form 
of which may also be seen in the cross aisles. 
(!) If this discovery diminishes in some 

(l) An alteration which has taken place in the slype, 
still further confirms the writer's system in opposition to 
that of Bishop Lowth. On taking down part of a wall 
or buttress, adjoining to the west door of the cathedral 
leading into the Close, part of the circular moulding, 
with the billetted ornaments, in the original workmanship 
of Walkelin, was discovered and is still to be seen ; the 
stone appearing remarkably fresh from the above-men- 
tioned circumstances. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 33 

small degree the credit of Wykeham's muni- 
ficence, in regard to his cathedral, it increases 
that of his prudence, economy and skill. 
For in the system here advanced, that this 
celebrated architect preserved as much of 
the Norman building, particularly of its nave, 
as he found he could fashion into a Gothic 
form;(i) (which will be found to have been 
the case in most of our Gothic cathedrals 
that have been built by the Normans:) a 
sufficient apology is offered for the undue 
massiveness of the columns, which arises 
from the necessity of casing the ancient round 
pillars with Gothic clusters ; whereas k 
would evidently be a pitiful economy to sa- 
crifice the beauty and gracefulness of such a 
magnificent fabric, merely for the sake of 
retaining sixteen feet of the ancient pillars, 
as this learned author supposes/ 2 ) 

(1) It appears also, upon examining the timbers of 
the roof, that the west end of them has at some period, 
most probably within the last three centuries, been on 
fire and in part consumed. Whether this accident hap- 
pened by lightning or culinary lire, does not appear. 

(2) In the instrument executed by Thomas, prior of 
St. Svvithun's to Wykeham, concerning his chantry, speak- 
ing of the latter's works, in the cathedral, he says, " Suam 
et nostram ecclesiam Wynton ipsius gravibus sumptibus 
et expensis deceutissime et honestissime a fundamentis 
reparavitac etiamrenovavit." Lowth, Append, n. xvi. 
Chaundler on the same subject says, " Corpus die-ae ec- 



24 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

The west end of the cathedral was now 
complete in its kind ; but the eastern part of 
it, from the tower to the low aisles of De 
Lucy, was far from being conformable to the 
rest, consisting of the Norman work of 
Walkelin, repaired and decorated at subse- 
quent periods, in the same manner as we see 
different windows of the transepts have been; 
when that great and good prelate, Fox, at 
the beginning of the 16th century, undertook 
to rebuild it; which he accordingly per- 
formed/ 1 ) with all the finished elegance that 
Gothic architecture had by this time ac- 
quired. Indeed it is impossible to survey 
the works of this prelate, either on the 
outside of the church or in the inside, with- 
out being struck with their beauty and mag- 
nificence. In both of them we see the most 
exquisite art employed to execute the most 
noble and elegant designs. We cannot fail 

clesiae cum duabus alis et omnibus fenestris vitreis, a 
magna occidentali fenestra capitali usque campanile, a 
fundo usque ad summum de novo reparavit et voltas in 
eisdem, opere curioso, constituit." — Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 
356. The word above in italics seems to insinuate that 
Wykeham's work was not, in every respect, a new erection. 

(1) Though Godwin and Harpsfield only made men- 
tion of Fox's decorations within the church, yet that he 
was the author of the outside work, here ascribed to him, 
is abundantly proved by his image and devices in various 
parts of it. 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 35 

in particular of admiring the vast but well- 
proportioned and ornamented arched win- 
dows which surround this part, and give light 
to the sanctuary ; the bold and airy flying 
buttresses that, stretching over the side 
aisles, support the upper walls ; the rich open 
battlement which surmounts these walls ; and 
the elegant sweep that contracts them to the 
size of the great eastern window ; the two 
gorgeous canopies which crown the extreme 
turrets, and the profusion of elegant carved 
work that covers the whole east front, taper- 
ing up to a point, where we view the breath- 
ing statue of the pious founder, resting upon 
his chosen emblem, the pelican. In a word, 
neglected and mutilated as this work has 
been, during the course of nearly three cen- 
turies, it still warrants us to assert, that if 
the whole cathedral had been finished in the 
style of this portion of it, the whole island, 
and perhaps all Europe, could not have exhi- 
bited a Gothic structure equal to it. We may 
conjecture that it was Fox's intention, if he 
had lived long enough, to render the transepts 
purely Gothic, like the rest of the fabric : 
not probably without a view of performing 
the same operation upon the tower itself, 
which, in this case, would have been fur- 
nished with a suitable spire. Tha circum- 
stances which seem to authorize these con 



36 FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

jectures are, that the side aisles of his con- 
struction are furnished, on each side, with 
ornamental work and windows beyond the 
line of the transepts, part of which is re- 
moved in order to make room for their 
admission ; as likewise that the upper line 
of windows, being four in number on the 
west side of that to the north, was, at the 
time that Fox's other works were going on, 
completely altered into the Gothic style, 
and furnished with canopies, busts, and a 
fascia, on which are seen the initials and 
devices of Fox's contemporary and friend* 
prior Silksted. 

All that remains to be noticed on the 
outside of this venerable pile, is the addi- 
tion of about 26 feet made to the Lady 
Chapel, at the eastern extremity. This is 
demonstrated to have been executed at the 
same time with bishop Fox's work, namely, 
in the early part of the 16th century, by 
the devices and rebusses of prior Silksted, 
which it exhibits. The three windows, with 
other works contained in this part, are no 
less rich than those of the above-mentioned 
prelate, but do not appear to be so well 
imagined. The windows in particular are 
too much crowded with mullions, the ill- 
judged profusion of which, and of other 
ornaments in the Gothic buildings of Henry 



FABRIC OF THE CATHEDRAL. 37 

the Seventh's reign, was one cause of the 
decline of that style, and of men's resorting 
to the simplicity of the Grecian architecture. 
From the whole of what has been said, as 
well as from an actual survey of the cathe- 
dral, it will be concluded, that its great de- 
fect is a want of uniformity, the unavoidable 
consequence of its having been above four 
centuries in building ; that is to say, from the 
Conquest down to the Reformation. This 
disadvantage, however, is in some degree 
compensated to the ingenious spectator, by 
the opportunity it affords him of studying the 
various styles of architecture which succeeded 
each other during that period. Without going 
further, he will discover in this single pile 
the rise, progress, and perfection of the Pointed 
or Gothic Architecture ; there not being a 
single stage of that remarkable and interest- 
ing species of building, and hardly an orna- 
ment made use of in it, which may not be 
traced in some part or other of Winchester 
Cathedral. 



B 



38 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 



CHAP. II. 

Geneial Observations upon the Entrance into Winchester 
Cathedral.— Survey of the South Side of it.— Wykeham's 
Chautry and Tomb. — Ditto of Edington. — Survey of the 
South Transept, with its Chapels, Monuments, and adjoin- 
ing Offices — The Steps in the Nave leading to the Choir, 
Monuments of Walkelin, Gifford, and Hoadly. — Situation, 
Names, and Uses of the ancient Pulpitum. — Description of 
the Choir, Comparison of it with that of Salisbury. — Dates 
of the Stall Work, Pulpit, &c. — Inside of the great Tower, 
Ornaments and Legends on the Ceiling of it. — Advance 
towards the Sanctuary, Criticism on the Altar Piece. — 
Description of the modern Canopy, and of the ancient 
Altar, with its Ornaments. — Ditto of the Altar Screen. — 
Account of the Figures painted in the Choir Windows, and 
of the Ornaments on the Ceiling. — The Partition Walls, 
with the Mortuary Chests and other Monuments aud Graves 
in the Choir. — Fox's Study, the Capitular Chapel, and 
Gardiner's Chantry. — De Lucy's Church. — Beaufort's Chan- 
try.— Ditto of Waynflete. — Clobery's Monument and Epi- 
taph. — Langton's Chapel. — The Lady Chapel, with the 
Paintings in it. — The Angel Guardian Chapel, with its Monu- 
ments. — The supposed Grave and Relics of St. Swithun. — 
The Holy Hole, Monuments of Hardicanute, &c. — Descent 
into the North Transept, Chapels, Monuments, and Paint- 
ings therein. — North Aisle of the Nave, Monuments of 
Morley, Boles, &c. — The ancient Font, — Erroneous Ex- 
planations of the Carvings upon it. — Their genuine 'Mean- 
ing ascertained. — Reflections upon quitting the Cathedral. 

It is usual to enter into the cathedral by 
the great porch, the original beauty of which, 
and of the whole west front, being chiefly 
the work of the immortal Wykeham, shines 
forth through all the disgraceful neglect and 
violence of latter ages ; the earth and rubbish 
having accumulated to a great height before 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 39 

it,0) the open gallery (2) hanging in ruins, 
the mullions of the great window being de- 
cayed, the glass of it shattered or vilely re- 
paired with painted fragments of opaque 
colouring, the colossal statues of the two 
ancient patrons of the church, St. Peter and 
St. Paul, on each side of the great doors, 
being cast down from their pedestals, and 
the elegant canopies, under which they stood 
nearly chiselled away. Fortunately the figure 
of St. Swithun, or of Wykeham, which ever 
it was intended to represent, in the tabernacle 
on the extreme point of the front, w r as out 
of the reach of the iconoclasts of the two 
last centuries. 

Having now entered the awful pile, by that 
door-way through which so many illustrious 
personages have heretofore passed in solemn 

(l) A great deal of dirt and rubbish has now been 
removed from the front of the cathedral ; but it was not 
possible to lower the alley, and the ground near it, to the 
level of the church pavement, without destroying the 
monuments and trees which at present occupy them, and 
without other inconveniences. 

{ji) Since the period above alluded to, something has 
been done towards the repairing of this gallery, the ori- 
ginal use of which was for the conveniency of the Bishop, 
when dressed in his pontifical ornaments and attended by 
his Clergy, to give his solemn benediction on particular 
occasions to the people assembled in the front of it, or to 
absolve them from certain censures which they might have 
incurred. 



40 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

procession ; as the impatient eye shoots 
through the long-drawn nave to the eastern 
window, glowing with the richest colours of 
enamelling ; as it soars up to the lofty vault, 
fretted with infinite tracery ; and as it wan- 
ders below amidst the various solemn objects 
which the first glance commands ; the most 
insensible spectator must feel his mind arrested 
with a certain awe, and must now experience, 
if he has never felt them before, the mingled 
sensations of the sublime and beautiful. It 
will require some minutes for the most re- 
fined architectural critic, entering into the 
cathedral for the first time, to be able to 
recollect himself, in order to attend either to 
its particular beauties or its defects. When 
the first pleasing emotions have in some de- 
gree subsided, the imperfections may perhaps 
next draw his attention. He will wish those 
lofty pillars, vast as the weight is which they 
support, and diversified as they are with 
clustered columns, tori, and other ornaments, 
were less massive and ample in their circum- 
ference ; but when he is informed of the cause 
to which this defect is owing, (!) he will 
rather applaud than blame the contrivance 
of the architect who has been able to turn 
ponderous Saxon pillars and arches into such 

(1) Seepage 32. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 41 

as are purely Gothic. In the next place, the 
curious spectator, eager to catch a view of 
the principal and most sacred part of the 
venerable edifice, finds his view towards the 
choir and altar intercepted by mean or incon- 
gruous objects ; a Grecian screen of the com- 
posite order, of a different hue from the 
rest of the stone- work, and shut up with a 
modern panelled door and fanlight, fitter 
for a tavern than a cathedral. (!) In these 
and such like faults, which are the effect, not 
of necessity but of choice, we discover the 
bad taste of modern ages. Formerly the ap- 
pearance of the sanctuary and the altar from 
the west end of this nave was rendered more 
striking by being seen through the glade of 
Gothic pillars and arches, supporting the an- 
cient pulpitum, which enclosed and over- 
looked the choir to the west, as we shall 
presently observe. 

To pi'event confusion, it will be necessary 
to preserve a certain order in surveying 
the particular antiquities and curiosities con- 
tained within the sacred edifice : for our 
part, we Avill observe that order in describ- 
ing them, which we have followed in num- 
bering them in our ichnographical chart, 

( 1 ) This screen has been removed, and one correspond- 
x, with the style of the structure substituted in its place. 

, b2 



42 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

and which appears to us the most clear and 
convenient for the spectator. 

If, as we proceed from the great doors to 
survey the south side of the church, we cast 
our eyes upwards to the ornaments on the 
orbs of the groining, and on the fascia below 
the open gallery on each side of the nave ; 
ornaments which are infinitely too numerous 
to be particularly described ; we may dis- 
tinguish the arms and busts of Cardinal 
Beaufort and of his father, together with 
their devices, the white heart chained, &c. 
0) as also the lily of Waynflete, intermin- 
gled with the arms and busts of the founder, 
Wykeham. This circumstance proves that 
the ornamental part, even of the nave, was 
not finished until a much later period than 
is generally supposed. The first object that 
commands our attention in this direction is 
the tomb and chantry, or mortuary chapel, 
of the last-mentioned illustrious prelate ; 
which occupy the fifth arch from the west 
end, and were built by his own direction, 
during his life-time, for this express purpose. 

(l) This badge of cognizance was given by John of 
Gaunt, after his return from Castile, at the j listings in 
Smithfield, as Stow reports. But the King himself, viz. 
Richard II. also adopted for his device a white hart, 
crowned, gorged, and sitting. 



INSdDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 43 

(0 The situation of this chapel is prejudicial 
to the symmetry of the church; but the 
founder was determined in the choice of this 
spot for his burial, as his learned biographer 
remarks, by his having conceived there those 
sentiments of tender piety, which he retained 
throughout his life, and which still breathe 
in every line of his writings extant. For we 
are informed that he had been accustomed 
in his youth, when a student at Winchester, 
every morning to attend mass, which was 
celebrated at a very early hour of the morn- 
ing by a devout monk of the monastery, one 
Pekis, at an altar dedicated to God, under 
the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
in that very spot of the ancient cathedral. 
The design and execution of the work before 
us are perhaps the most perfect specimens 
extant of the time when they were performed, 
being such as the taste of Wykeham relished. 
The ornaments in general are rich, without 
being crowded ; the carvings are delicate, 
without being finical. The chantry is divided 
in its length into three arches ; the canopies 
of which, according to a later improvement, 

(1) ' Item lego corpus meum, cum ab hac luce mi- 
gravero, tradendum ecclesiastic* sepulturae in medio cu- 
jusdam capellae in navi dicta? ecclesiae, ex parte australi 
ejusdem, per me de novo constructae.' Testam. W. 
Wykeham, ap. Lowth. 



44 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

are curved, to humour the shape of the 
arches. The middlemost of these, which is 
the largest, is subdivided below into three 
compartments ; those on the sides consisting 
of two. There are five tabernacles or niches 
over the head of the monument, within the 
chapel, besides those on the outside of it ; 
and ten others at the feet, over the ancient 
altar, for so many statues of Wykeham's 
patron saints ; amongst which, as Bishop 
Lowth conjectures, was that statue of the 
Blessed Virgin, which had stood against the 
same pillar when Pekis's mass used formerly 
to be said there, and which, with other 
statues of the same kind, he laments,, were 
destroyed by the blind zeal of modern en- 
thusiasm. The foundation of the altar, and 
a great part of the credence table on the 
right hand of it, are still visible. The marble 
figure of this great man, which lies over his 
mortal remains, exhibits his placid and intel- 
ligent features, and is dressed in the complete 
episcopal costume of the mitre, crosier, 
gloves, ring, cope, tunic, dalmatic, alb, san- 
dals, &c, which of late have been properly 
gilt and coloured. (0 The head rests upon a 

(l) This chapel and monument are kept in order and 
repair at the joint expense of Wykeham's two founda- 
tions, New College, Oxford, and Winchester College. 
It was repaired and ornamented soon after the Restora- 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 45 

pillow, supported by two angels; and at 
the feet are three religious men, in the atti- 
tude of prayer, with uplifted hands and ani- 
mated countenances. These are generally 
said to represent three favourite friars of the 
deceased, and, until about the first edition of 
this work, they were seen painted in various 
habits, blue, purple, and grey. The truth, 
however, is, they are intended for the three 
monks of the cathedral, who, as they were 
weekly appointed to this office, were each of 
them to say mass at this chapel, for the re- 
pose of the souls of Wykeheim himself, and of 
his father, mother, and benefactors ; particu- 
larly of Edward III., the Black Prince, and 
Richard II. This was done conformably 
to a covenant made for that purpose by 
Wykeham with the prior and community of 
the cathedral monastery. (2) Notwithstand- 

tion, viz. in 1664, and again in 1741, but with very lit- 
tle judgment as to the distinguishing and colouring of the 
several ornaments. In the year 1799, the same opera- 
tion was again performed: the painting and. gilding 
being executed by Mr. Gave, of this city, in a very pro- 
per manner, as far as depended upon his taste. The chief 
faults of the late work are, the gilding of so great a sur- 
face ; as the whole cope has a tawdry appearance : on 
the other hand, the whole collection of the orbs in the 
vaulting of the chantry ought to have been gilded, and 
not a few of them only. The uppermost leaf ought also 
to be restored to the flowers at the top of the canopies. 
(I) ' Imprimis Reverendus Pater in capella in qua 



46 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

ing the special veneration in which this friend 
of his country, of literature, and of Winches- 
ter, has ever been held in our city, yet his 
beautiful monument has not escaped without 
considerable depredations. The altar and 
the statues, which, to the number of nearly 
thirty, adorned it, have been destroyed ; the 
upper leaf of the flower, in which the cano- 
pies terminated, has been broken off; for no 
other reason, which we can discover, except 
that it bore some resemblance with a cross ; 
and the enchased escutcheons, which sur- 
rounded the tomb itself, exhibiting the arms 
and devices of Wykeham, and which are now 
imitated in colours, have been torn away. 
The original epitaph, however, in brass let- 
ters, curiously inlaid round the marble slab, 
on which the figure rests, has been spared, 
and stands as follows : — 

Jtefffjetomtf Dictum l©pftei)am jacet fy'c nece Wctu£ : 
3l£tm£ ecele^tae pregiit, reparabit eamque : 
3iargu£ erat Dapifer; probative cum tifotte pauper: 
Confute pariter regni f uerat bene tierter. 
$unc Docet egge ptum f undatto coffegiorum 
d^omae primum £tat !©mtoniaeque £ecun&um. 

suam elegit sepulturam, infra ecclesiasm cathedralem in 
navi ejus ex parte australi, habebit tres monachos nostri 
conventus, tres missas pro eo et suis benefactoribus cotidie 
specialiter celebrantes.' De Cantaria W. W. apud Lowtb, 
Append, n, xvi. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 47 

3jugtter cretin tumulum quicumque triDette, 
pro tant# merits ut $it$ihi bita perenni£. (1) 

We shall, for the present, be sparing in 
our account of modern monuments and in- 
scriptions, being chiefly intent on the illus- 
tration of antiquities ; nevertheless we can- 
not fail pointing out the mural monuments 
of Dean Cheney and of Bishop Willis, which 
are in the south aisle, near the chantry of 
Wykeham, as remarkable for their design as 
execution; particularly the recumbent statue 
of the bishop, which is as large as life, and 
inimitable in its kind. In the same aisle we 
pass by the monument of the late Dr. Bal- 
guy, plain and unostentatious, as was the 
person whom it commemorates, whose genius 
and learning could only be equalled by his 
moderation ; having refused a bishopric, 
when pressed to accept of it by the prime 
minister. Within the nave, near the eighth 
pillar, on the same side (to which formerly 

(l) William surnamed Wykeham lies here overthrown 

by death: 
He was bishop of this church and the repairer of it. 
He was unbounded in his hospitality, as the poor and the 

rich can equally prove. 
He was likewise a sage politician and counsellor of the state. 
His piety is manifest by the colleges which he founded : 
The first of which is at Oxford, the second at Winchester. 
You, who look upon this monument, cease not to pray 
That for such great deserts he may enjoy eternal life. 



48 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

a small stone pulpit was affixed), is the grave 
stone of Bishop Home ; who, whatever his 
merits might have been in other respects, 
was certainly the destroyer of the antiquities 
of his cathedral, and the dilapidator of the 
property of his bishopric. His name has of 
late been fresh engraved on his stone. Near 
him lies the last Benedictine prior of the 
cathedral; who, having purchased the fa- 
vour of Henry VIII., and of his spiritual 
vicar, Lord Cromwell, by violating his so- 
lemn vows, leaving his religious brethren to 
starve, and surrendering his renowned priory 
to be dissolved, was made, in return, first 
dean of the new establishment. A century 
back, part of his epitaph was legible in the 
following terms : — 

Willimvi$ ftmggmttt, $ riot ulttmug, ©ecanus 
primus eccle^iae . . . obit 1548. (i) 

In the same row, but on the north side of 
the nave, 1 es the successor of Home, bishop 
Watson, M.D. A little higher up, in the 
centre of the nave, two prelates repose of 
opposite characters to Home and Kingsmill. 
These are the venerable Walkelin, the 
builder of the church and priory, and his 

(1) See History and Antiquities, &c. by Lord Cla- 
rendon and S. Gale. — William Kingsmill, the last prior 
and the first dean of this church*— 'Died 1548. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 49 

successor, the conscientious Giffard; the lat- 
ter of whom preferred the poverty and hu- 
mility of the cowl to the wealth and splen- 
dour of the mitre. 

Within the tenth arch from the west end, 
adjoining to the steps leading towards the 
choir, is an ancient chantry, by no means to 
he compared with that of Wykeham, but in 
the same style of architecture. This contains 
the monument and the figure of his predeces- 
sor, William of Edington ; a prelate, in his vir- 
tues and talents, only inferior to Wykeham 
himself. It is remarkable (see History and 
Survey of Winchester, vol. i. p. 299), that jus- 
tice has never been done to the memory of this 
benefactor of our cathedral. A convincing 
proof of this is the chantry before us, which 
has been mutilated in former times, and is con- 
signed to dust and oblivion in this.* The fol- 
lowing jingling epitaph, in what is called Leo- 
nine verse, may still be discovered, by cleans- 
ing the marble slab in which the brass letters 
that compose it, are inserted, in the same 
manner as on Wykeham's tomb : — 

€&jm&on natu£ J©ityelmu£ t)ic z$t tumutatttf (l) 

(l) William born at Edington is here intended. 
He was a well-beloved prelate, and Winchester was his see. 
You, who pass by his tomb, remember him in your prayers. 
He was discreet and mild, yet a match for thousands in 
knowledge and sagacity. 

* See Supplement. B ** 



50 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

$rae£ut prcegratu& in lEMntonia catfjeDcatu^ 5 

<©w pertran£ttt& eju£ memorare fceiitte. 
p:obiDu£ et mitte, au£tt cum mille peftttf. 
Jkrtrigil 3nglorum futt aDjutor poputorum 
©u[c# egenorum pater et protector eorum. 
Hft. C tribug junctum, po£t1l.£. m.^itg.punctum 
<©ctaba sanctum notat <©ctobrt£ inunctum. 

Having surveyed this ancient monument, 
instead of ascending the steps, let us pass 
by the mural tablet of the late Earl of Ban- 
bury, and the grave-stone of bishop Thomas, 
near the extremity of the south-west aisle, 
into the southern transept. Here we view 
with astonishment the original work of Wal- 
kelin ; huge round pillars, and vast circular 
arches, piled one upon another to an amazing 
height, not however without symmetry and 
certain simple ornaments ; whilst other smaller 
columns, without either capitals or bases, are 
continued up the walls, between the arches, 
to the roof itself, which is open to the view. 
Such was the body of the church before 
Edington and Wykeham undertook to adorn 
it ; as an attentive examination of the works 
over the nave and side aisles still evinces. 

He was a watchful guardian of the English nation. 

A tender father to the poor and the defender of their rights; 

To one thousand add three hundred with fifty, ten, five, 

and one ; 
Then the eighth of October will mark the time when he 

became a saint. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 51 

Upon a comparison of the style of building 
which the Normans are celebrated for intro- 
ducing, the character of which is vastness, 
with the more ornamented style of the 
pointed architecture^ we are forced to own 
that, if the latter is better calculated to pro- 
duce sentiments of the beautiful, the former 
is equally adapted to produce those of the 
sublime. The west aisle of the transept, 
which is portioned off from the rest, was the 
ancient sextry or sacristy, (l) forming now 
the chapter-house and treasury. It seems to 
have consisted of two separate offices, for 
which; indeed, in such a cathedral, there 
must formerly have been sufficient occasion. 
The entrance into it was at the north end of 
them, at the extremity of the south-west 
aisle, under the two great arches now stopped 
up, but still adorned with rich Norman work. 
Against the west wall of the transept we see 
certain ancient presses, bearing upon them 
the device of Silkstede ; the original use of 
which seems to have been, to keep the great 
habits of the monks, or large outside gar- 
ments ; the use of which was frequently dis- 

(1) So called from the sacred vessels, ornaments, and 
vestments being there kept. The person who superintended 
this important office was called the Sacristan, whence our 
word Sexton, who, from a keeper of the sacred treasury, is 
now degraded to a digger of graves. 



52 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

pensed with, but which they were obliged 
always to appear in on solemn occasions in 
the choir. These presses are still made use 
of for containing the surplices of the cho- 
risters and singing men. In the south wall, 
under the clock, is a door, which conducted 
into certain offices of the ancient monastery. 
On the left hand is a calefactory, necessary 
for preserving fire for the thuribles or censers 
which were used in the ancient service, as 
likewise for the monks to warm themselves 
in cold weather. On the right hand was 
another passage into the sacristy or vestry. 
Over this is still seen the staircase leading to 
the ancient dormitories, from which the monks 
had a ready passage into the choir to perform 
their midnight service. We find the east 
aisle of the transept divided into two chapels : 
that on the right hand is called Silkstede's 
chapel, from the circumstance of the letters 
of his Christian name being curiously carved 
on the open work of the screen that is before 
it ; yet so that M. A., the monagram of his 
patroness, the Blessed Virgin, are distin- 
guished from the rest, together with a skein 
of silk, as a rebus upon his surname. (0 The 

( 1 ) Some persons, and among the rest Stephens, suppose 
him to have been buried iu this chapel. We shall, in its 
proper place, give our reasons for assigning a different 
spot for his grave. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 53 

adjoining chapel is probably that in which the 
remains of bishop Courtney rest ; where they 
were covered with a brass, which was re- 
moved when that chapel was new paved. 
This chapel is highly ornamented and well 
secured : from which circumstances, and from 
its situation, we are led to believe that the 
blessed sacrament used to be kept there, for 
the benefit of the sick and for private com- 
munions. Near the entrance of this chapel, 
on the left hand, close to the steps which lead 
up to the iron gate, are two stone coffins, 
with their lids upon them, standing quite out 
of the ground. That with a mutilated statue 
upon it, we are left to conjecture belonged 
to an ancient prior ; the other we are sure is 
of this description, from the figure of a cathe- 
dral prior, with all his proper ornaments, 
which is carved on the upper part of it, and 
from the following inscription which sur- 
rounds it : — 

ftc jacet JBttyelmug &e 2Ba#ng, quondam griot 
i£tw£ €ccle£!ae, cujttf antm# propitietur ©eu£, tt 
qui pro amma eju£ oratoit, tre£ annos* et quinqua* 
Btnta Die^ iniuilgentte perciptet. (i) 

(\) Here lies William de Basing, who was formerly 
Prior of this churchy to whose soul God be merciful, and 
whosoever prays for the same, shall obtain three years 
and fifty days of indulgence.— N. B. William de BasiDg 
died in 1295. 

b4 



54 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Having surveyed the south transept, it will 
be proper to return into the nave of the 
church, to the steps leading into the choir. 
In this situation we cannot fail of admiring 
the elegant screen,* of the composite order, 
said to have been raised by Inigo Jones, in 
the reign of Charles I., and which, though 
injurious to the general style of the building, 
is highly beautiful in itself; as likewise the 
two bronze statues ; one representing that 
prince ; the other representing his father, 
James I., which fill the two niches in it. 
Nor can the eye in this situation be restrained 
from fixing on that inimitable medallion of 
bishop Hoadly, against the pillar on the left 
hand, over his tomb and epitaph. The hard 
stone here assumes the soft foldings of the 
prelate's silken ornaments, and the cold 
marble is animated with his living, speaking 
features. But what an incongruous associa- 
tion of emblems do we find crowded in the 
margin ! The cap and wand of liberty are in 
saltire with the pastoral crosier; Magna 
Charta is blended with the New Scripture, as 
forming subjects equally proper for the me- 
ditation of a bishop. 

Whilst standing at the top of the steps, 
we are on the spot which was formerly co- 
vered by the pulpitum. This answers to the 

* See Supplement. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 55 

ambo in the basilics of the primitive churchy 
and was used for reading or chaunting the 
lessons of the divine office, as likewise for 
containing the organ and minstrelsy in gene- 
ral, which accompanied the choir below. 
From the circumstance of the lessons being 
here read, it is in some countries called the 
Jube;( l ) and, because a great crucifix was 
always placed in the front of it, towards the 
people, it has also obtained the name of the 
Rood Loft. The rood or crucifix, with the 
attendant figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary 
and St. John the Evangelist, which formerly 
stood over the present spot, were very pre- 
cious, as well for their antiquity as their 
value, being the legacy of Stigand, who was 
bishop of the see of Winchester and arch- 
bishop of Canterbury before the Conquest, 
and being both of a large size, and composed 
of the precious metals. (2) Beneath the cru- 
cifix, on the parapet of this loft and the span- 

(1) In consequence of the blessing which the lector 
asks previously to his beginning to read or chaunt, in the 
fellowing terms : — Jube, Domine, benedicere. 

(2) 4 Stigandus magnam crucem ex argento cum ima- 
ginibus argenteis, in pulpito ecclesiae contulit.' Epit. Hist. 
Win. ADg. Sac. vol. i. p. 285.—' Stigandus de donis Em- 
mae Reginae condidit magnam crucem, cum duabus imagi- 
nibus, viz : Marias et Johannis, et illas cum trabe vestitas 
auro et argento coposie, dedit Wintoniensi ecclesiae.' An- 
nal. Wint. an. 1048. 



56 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

drils of the arches suppoiting it, the histories 
of the Old and New Testament were curiously 
carved and beautified with colours. C 1 ) These 
being placed directly before the body of the 
people, formed a series of instructive lessons, 
which were legible to the most illiterate. 
Within the side arches, where now the 
bronze statues stand, it is not unlikely there 
were two altars ; at all events the opinion of 
bishop Lowth, that the whole of the space 
before the present screen was a vestry, is ut- 
terly improbable. It is also clear that the 
height of the centre arch, through which the 
altar was seen from the body of the church, 
was much loftier than the present door of 
the choir as appears from an inside view of 
the Gothic work over it. 

The choir doors now opening, every mind 
must feel how sequestered, how awful, how 

(l) We learn from Ryves, Poulis, &c. that such carvings 
formerly existed in the cathedral, and were utterly de- 
stroyed by the parliamentary soldiers in the great rebellion ; 
though they do not clearly ascertain the spot which they 
occupied. What seems probable, from different circum- 
stances put together, is, that the rood loft, with all its 
carvings, had been removed previously to the rebellion, in 
order to make place for the late Grecian screen, and that 
the loose carved work was deposited in the church, in 
order to its being erected in some vacant part of it, when 
it was seized upon by the plunderers, and demolished in 
the manner we have mentioned. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 57 

fit, for prayer and contemplation, this more 
sacred part of the venerable edifice is ! How 
infinitely more solemn and majestic is the 
general view of this choir and sanctuary, 
than that which the neighbouring cathedral 
of Salisbury presents, after all the thousands 
which have been lately lavished on it ! The 
cause of this is, that the present church has 
been less altered in this part from its original 
plan and disposition, than most others in the 
kingdom have been ; whereas the propor- 
tions and the essential distribution of parts, 
so admirably calculated and adjusted by the 
original architects, have been utterly de- 
stroyed in the cathedrals of Salisbury, Litch- 
field, &c, by the presumption of modern 
builders, who have attempted to improve 
what they did not even understand. (0 But 

(1) The chief alterations which have, of late years, 
been made in Salisbury cathedral, in conformity with the 
prevailing taste of new-modelling ancient churches, are the 
following : — 1st, The altar-screen has been entirely taken 
away, in order to lengthen the choir, by admitting into it 
the Lady Chapel and the other low aisles behind it. 2dly, 
Two beautiful chapels, on each side of the Lady Chapel, 
at the east end, which could not be brought in, to form 
part of the choir, have been destroyed; and their carved 
ornaments, in the style of the 15th century, are stuck up 
in different part of the church itself, which every one knows 
to be the workmanship of the 1 3th century. 3rdly, A 
diminutive communion table, without rails or other fence, 
is placed at the extremity of the low, dark aisles ; where, 



58 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

to proceed to an examination of the scene 
before us in its several parts. The stalls, with 

so far from commanding any respect, it is hardly percepti- 
ble. 4thly, To make these alterations, it has been neces- 
sary to remove the monuments, and disturb the ashes, of 
an incredible number of personages, illustrious for their 
stations and merits — bishops, earls, benefactors, founders, 
and others entitled to the peculiar respect of those who are 
connected with the cathedral. With regard to the impro- 
priety of these changes, the author will here barely touch 
upon a few of the arguments, which he hopes to find an- 
other opportunity of stating more at length. In the first 
place, the cathedrals of the middle ages, like the basilics 
of primitive times, were not built merely to form so many 
large rooms, in which a great number of persons might as- 
semble together at the same time ; but, like palaces, as the 
word basilics means, were intended to form corpses of 
building for a great variety of religious purposes, as may 
be seen in Bingham, Fleury, Le Brim, Bocquillon, &c. 
It is therefore a preposterous attempt against the nature and 
plan of a Gothic cathedral, in our modem architectural re- 
formers, to aim at reducing it to one great chamber ; an 
attempt as impracticable as it is absurd, in consequence of 
the transepts, which ever occur in such fabrics, and which 
they are utterly unable to introduce into their plan. In the 
second place, the altar is to our ancient churches, what the 
head is to the human body ; every part of the whole fabric 
has a relation to it, and it can neither be taken away, nor 
placed in a different situation, without violating the neces- 
sary distribution of parts, and the essential connexion of the 
different members of the sacred edifice. This may be felt 
better than explained. Let any spectator of taste enter into 
the choir of Salisbury, with an idea of its being the most 
sacred part of a Christian church, and the place peculiarly 
intended for prayer ; however his eye may be dazzled with 
the neatness and freshness which have been obtained by 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 59 

their misereres, canopies, &c. though of an 
early date, as being more ancient than the 

new vamping and varnishes ; however he may admire the 
beauty and magnificence of separate parts before him ; yet 
he will quickly perceive there is something essential that is 
w r anting to the whole. He wanders to and fro, without 
seeing any object which, in a more special manner, fixes 
his attention ; or which determines him, if he is disposed 
to pray, to turn his face one way rather than another. In a 
word, he finds a vacuity in the place from whence the altar 
has been removed, for which nothing can make amends ; 
and discovers that he is in a hall or portico, instead of a 
choir. It may not be improper here to observe, that this 
removing of * the chancel from the place it held in times 
past,' is as directly contrary to the canons and discipline of 
the Church of England, and particularly to the first rubric 
prefixed to The Order for Morning Prayer, as it is to the 
general plan and distribution of an ancient cathedral. 
Lastly, it is a general principle of architecture, that when 
the length, breadth, and height of any building have been 
well calculated, to alter any one of these proportions, is to 
destroy the effect of the whole. Hence, if it were practic- 
able to make any addition, whether little or great, to the 
length, so admirably proportioned as the nave of Salisbury- 
cathedral is allowed to have originally been, though the 
addition were to be of the same height and construction 
with it, an architect would refuse to do it — well knowing, 
as Burke proves, in his Treatise on the Sublime and Beau- 
tiful, that an undue length in any building or avenue pro- 
duces the most disgusting effect possible. What then must 
be the effect of lengthening a series of arches, 84 feet high, 
and supported by suitable pillars, with a second series of 
arches, which have only 38 feet of height, resting on co- 
lumns proportionately slender, as has been done in Salis- 
bury cathedral 1 The evident consequence is, that, as the 
sight is interrupted and descends, the mind feels an equal 



60 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

(1) nave of the church, (2) are adorned with 
a profusion of crockets, foliage, busts, 
human and animal figures, elegantly de- 
signed and executed ; and notwithstanding 
they are soiled and covered with dust, ap- 
pear highly magnificent and beautiful. The 
upper range of stalls, however, is disgraced 
by certain clumsy, modern desks and settles, 
placed beneath them in the last Henry's 
reign j whose initials, with those of Stephen 

depression. Thus the Nave and Lady Chapel, majestic 
and beautiful as they are, when viewed as separate mem- 
bers, cause displeasure and pain by the ridiculous attempt 
to form them into one whole. See the Author's Disserta- 
tion on the Modern Style of altering Ancient Cathedrals. 

(1) The small shelving stool, which the seats of the 
stalls formed, when turned up in their proper position, is 
called a Miserere. On these the monks and canons of an- 
cient times, with the assistance of their elbows on the upper 
part of the stalls, half supported themselves during certain 
parts of their long offices, not to be obliged always to stand 
or kneel. The stool, however, was so contrived, that if the 
body became supine by sleep, it naturally fell down, and 
the person who rested upon it was thrown forward into the 
middle of the choir. The present usage in this country is 
to keep them always turned down, in which position they 
form a firm horizontal seat — an indulgence that was very 
rarely granted to those who kept choir in ancient times. 

(2) This is plain from the form of the canopies, which 
is lofty and quite straight, as in the tomb of Edmund 
Crouchback. In the time of Edward III. and Richard II., 
these canopies began to assume a winding form, to humour 
the turn of the arch. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 61 

Gardiner, bishop, Wm. Kingsmill, dean, and 
their date, 1540, are seen upon them. The 
stalls are terminated, on the left hand, by 
the pulpit of the choir; which, amongst 
other ornaments executed in cane work, as 
it is called, bears the name of its original 
donor, €f)oma.s &ilft£tetie, $riar, which is re- 
peated on different parts of it. This circum- 
stance has led those who do not distinguish 
between the style of this and of the other 
work, to ascribe the whole to prior Silkstede, 
whose time it preceded by two centuries. On 
the right hand, opposite the pulpit, the stalls 
finish with a modern episcopal throne, in the 
Corinthian order, the gift of bishop Trelaw- 
ney, at the beginning of the last century. 
However elegant in itself, it is immoderately 
large for the place which it occupies, and ill 
assorted with the rest of the work in every 
particular.* 

Over the stalls in the middle of the choir, 
we behold, on each side, the huge columns 
and circular arches raised by Walkelin,0) to 
support his tower above. This being the only 
portion of the church, excepting the transepts, 
which exhibits the nakedness of the Norman 



(1) ' Walkelinus turrim in medio chori, cum quatuor 

columnis a fundamentis renovavit.' Epit. Hist. Wint. 

Ang. Sac. 

* See Supplement. 

B 5 



62 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

architecture, we cannot form any other sup- 
position, than that it was the intention of the 
bishops and priors/ whilst the ages of build- 
ing up existed, and before that of destroying 
came on, to make this part conformable to 
the rest, as soon as they should have any 
funds sufficient for the undertaking ; either 
by rebuilding the tower, with a suitable spire 
over it, or else by casing it, in the manner of 
Wykeham's work in the nave. The tower 
was intended by Walkelin for a lanthorn to 
the choir, to be left open to the very ceiling 
over the summit of it ; as appears by the or- 
namented work within it ; and it was actu- 
ally open (at least to the top of the lower- 
most of the two stories, of which it consists) 
until the reign of Charles I., when the organ 
now in use was, on the demolishing of the 
rood-loft, placed by him in its present un- 
symmetrical situation. At that time the 
present ceiling under the tower was made, 
and adorned in the manner we now be- 
hold it, as the ornaments themselves indi- 
cate. These are the arms, initials, and de- 
vices of king Charles I. ; of his royal con- 
sort Henrietta Maria ; and of the prince of 
Wales ; as likewise the arms of Scotland and 
Ireland apart ; with those of Laud, arch- 
bishop of Canterbury ; of Curie, bishop of 
this see; and of Young, dean of the cathe- 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 63 

dral. There is also a curious medallion of 
the royal pair, with their faces in profile, and 
their legend round it. In the centre is an 
emblem of the Blessed Trinity, surrounded 
with the following chronogram : — S/NT 
DOMUS HC7JC7S VII REGES NC7TR/- 
TZ7, REG/N.E Nt/TR/CES PZ/E.O) 

The letters here in italics are gilt, and of 
a larger size than the rest. These being picked 
out, and placed in proper order, there will 
be found M,DC,VVVVV,IIIIIIIII, equal to 
1634, which is the date of the work in ques- 
tion. The corbels, from which the ribs of 
the vaulting spring, consist of four large royal 
busts, dressed and coloured from the life, 
representing Charles and his father James 
alternately. To the north-east is the bust of 
James, with his characteristical motto above 
it, viz: BE ATI PACIFIC!^) To the south- 
east is that of Charles, with this inscription, 
VIVAT CAROLUSXZ) To the south west, 
James again is seen, and the following words, 
PER CHRISTUM CUM CHRIS TO ; (4) 
and to the north-west, the reigning monarchy 

(1) May pious kings be the nursing fathers, and pious: 
queens the nurses of this church. 

(2) Blessed are the peace-makers. 

(3) God save king Charles. 

(4) Through Chi ist and with Christ 



64 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Charles, for the second time, as appears 
from the legend, CHRISTO AUSPICE 
REGNO. 0) 

Advancing towards the sanctuary or chan- 
cel, ( 2 ) the first object that is usually pointed 
out to us is the celebrated Altar-piece by 
West, representing our Lord raising Lazarus 
from the dead. Heretofore pious pictures of 
every kind, as well as statues, were removed 
out of churches and destroyed, as tending to 
superstition and idolatry ; but now the use 
and advantage of them, for informing and 
exciting the minds of the people, as well as 
for the decoration and adornment of churches 
themselves, are admitted ; by which means 
a great source of support and encouragement 
is open to our historical painters. Notwith- 
standing this, it has happened, for causes 
which it is not necessary here to explain, that 
our national artists have not succeeded so 
well on scripture subjects as on most others. 
The picture before us is considered a master- 
piece of modern painting. But when has 
modern painting been found equal to a reli- 
gious subject ? When have a Reynolds, or a 
West, been able to animate their saints, and 

(1) I reign under the auspices of Christ. 

(2) Called also Presbytery, and by the Greeks e Ay*ov 
BryjW,a, &c. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 65 

particularly the Lord of Saints, with that 
supernatural cast of features, with that ray of 
Promethean light, which a Raphael and a 
Rubens have borrowed from heaven itself 
wherewith to inspire them ? The apostles 
here are mere ordinary men, or at most, 
thoughtful philosophers, or elegant courtiers, 
studious of their attitudes ; the devout sisters, 
in the presence of their Lord and Master, 
are remarkable for nothing but their beauty 
and their sorrow. Christ himself, who, in 
the work of Reubens on this subject, treads 
the air, and, with uplifted hands and glowing 
features animates us, the spectators, as well 
as Lazarus, with new life, appears more like 
a physician, prescribing a medicine for the 
recovery of his patient, than the Messiah, 
who is working an astonishing miracle for 
the conversion of a nation. If any one will 
maintain that this tranquil character is more 
suitable to our Lord, on this occasion, than 
one of greater feeling and animation ; we 
beg leave to refer him to the inspired history 
of the event : — Jesus groaned in spirit, and 
was troubled : — he wept, and he cried with 
a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth ! What- 
ever may be said in commendation of the in- 
ferior characters, as of the Pharisees, the 
multitude, and of Lazarus himself, we wil- 
lingly subscribe to. 

b6 



66 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

This altar-piece is fixed under a canopy of 
wood-work, consisting of festoons and other 
carved work, in alto-relievo, and adorned 
with gilding. In the centre is the chavacter- 
istical pelican, which misleads some specta- 
tors to attribute this work to bishop Fox. 
The truth, however, is, that it is of a much 
later date, having been executed, together 
with the rails, in the reign of Charles L, as 
appears by his initials upon it. (l) The use 
of the canopy is to ornament and cover 
the communion table, which is made to re- 
semble an altar, (2) and actually occupies the 
spot where the gorgeous high altsr of ancient 
times stood. The nether part, or antepen- 
dium, of this consisted of plated gold, gar- 
nished with precious stones. (3) Upon it stood 
the tabernacle and steps, ( 4 ) of embroidered 

(1) It is certain that neither of these articles would 
have been tolerated during the interval that Presbyterian- 
ism was the established religion of the cathedral. Hence 
there is every reason to suppose that they were timely 
removed, with a view to preserve them, previously to 
its introduction. 

(2) The word Altar, says Johnson in his Dictionary, 
from Junius, is received with Christianity in all the Eu- 
ropean Languages. The Greeks termed it GvtriOLarrrjpiov 
and 'ayiov ccyiow, i. e. holy of holies. 

(3) This account is chiefly borrowed from the im- 
perfect inventory of the cathedral ornaments, in the 
English Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 222. 

(4) This seems to be meant by the fount above, ibid. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 67 

work, ornamented with pearls, as also six 
silver candlesticks, gilt, intermixed with re- 
liquaries, wrought in gold and jewels. Still 
higher was seen a large crucifix, with its at- 
tendant images, viz: — those of the Blessed 
Virgin and St. John, composed of the purest 
gold, garnished with jewels, the gift of bishop 
Henry de Blois, king Stephens brother. 0) 
Over this appears to have been suspended, 
from the exquisite stone canopy, the crown 
of king Canute, which he placed there in 
homage to the Lord of the Universe, (2) 
after the famous scene of his commanding 
the sea to retire from his feet, which took 
place near Southampton. Ihis brief account 
of the ordinary decoratipns of the high altar 
may help us to form an idea of the splendour 
with which it shone forth on great festivals 
and on other solemn occasions, when innu- 
merable other ornaments of inestimable value 

(1) * Iste benignissimus praesul Henricus .... mag- 
num crucem cum imaginibus de auro purissimo ad 
majus altare et alia omamenta plurima, quae lingua non 
potest euarrare, suae ecelesiae contulit.' Epit. Hist. Wiat. 
in Anglia Sac. 

(2) ' Rex deinceps Cnuto nunquam coronam porta vit ; 
sed coronam suam super caput imaginis crueitixi (quae 
stat in fronte summi altaris in ecclesia cathedrali Wyn- 
toniae) componens, magnum regibus futuris praebuit humi- 
litatis exemplum/ Thomas Kudborne, Hist. Maj. Wint. 
1. iv. c. i. 






68 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

were employed in the divine service. It is 
related that in the reign of the munificent 
monarch just mentioned, the richness and 
beauty of the ecclesiastical furniture of 
this church were such, as to dazzle the eyes 
of strangers who came to view it;0) and 
we have certain proofs that the sacred trea- 
sury, instead of being diminished, went on 
increasing until the reign of the last Henry, 
when it was divided between him and his sa- 
crilegious courtiers. If any one objects, that 
this profusion of wealth in churches, and in 
the divine worship, is vain and superstitious, 
we shall content ourselves with observing, 
that neither in this nor in any other cathe- 
dral it ever equalled that which the Deity 
himself prescribed in the Old Testament, for 
the decoration of his tabernacle and temple, 
and for the worship performed in them. 

A magnificent screen, of the most exqui- 
site workmanship in stone, which this or 
perhaps any other nation can exhibit, forms 
a back to the altar, with its several orna- 
ments, and terminates this most sacred part 
of the church. It was endeavoured, in the 

(1) ' Iste (Cnuto) rex vetus monasterium Wynto- 
niensis civitatis tanta munificentia decoravit, ut aurum et 
argentum splendorque gemmarum animos intuentiura 
lerreret advenarum.' Thomas Rudborue, Hist. Maj. 
1. iv. c. i. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 69 

frontispiece of the first volume of the His- 
tory and Antiquities of Winchester, to give 
an idea of the delicate lace-work on the up- 
per part of this master-piece of workman- 
ship ; but, notwithstanding the talents of 
the gentleman who designed and engraved 
it, we have still to lament that the chisel of 
the sixteenth century should have hitherto 
proved so much more delicate than the pen- 
cil and graver of the 18th. The stone- work 
is evidently seen to a great disadvantage, 
having been neglected for almost 300 years, 
and being clogged with dust and coarse 
whitewash ;* still, however, an attentive view 
of it, with a perspective glass, will give us a 
higher idea of its beauty than it is possible 
for words to convey. The several niches in it 
were filled with statutes of a considerable 
size, probably executed by the same artist 
who made the screen itself. These, in all 
probability, represented the ancient patrons of 
the church, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Amphi- 
ballus, together with those bishops of Win- 
chester whose names were inscribed in the sa- 
cred calendar, St. Birinus, Agilbert, Eleuthe- 
rius, Hedda, Swithun, Frithstan, Brinstan, 
Elphege the Bald, Ethelwold, and Elphege 
the Martyr. 

These statues having been demolished at 

* See Supplement. 



70 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

the Reformation, as superstitions, their 
places were, at the beginning of the 18th 
century, with more liberality than taste, 
filled with Grecian urns, at the expence of 
Dr. William Harris, prebendary of the ca- 
thedral, and master of the college, who also 
caused the present rich marble pavement to 
be laid down in the sanctuary. 0) In examin- 
ing, however, the spandrils of the doors in 
the screen, we are no less surprised than 
pleased to find that the history of the An- 
nunciation of the Blessed Virgin on one side, 
and that of the Visitation on the other, 
carved in basso relievo and coloured, have 
escaped all violence, and are as fresh as when 
first executed in the time of bishop Fox. 
Whilst our eyes are yet feasting on the beau- 
ties of this unrivalled screen, it is proper to 
mention, that proposals have been made to 
demolish it, together with the oratories be- 
hind it, in order to lengthen the choir with 
the disproportioned aisles of the east end, in 
the manner that has been so absurdly done 
in Salisbury cathedral. If any consideration 
could console us for the weak and tottering 
state of the whole east end of the church, 
from the tower to the extremity, it is that it 

(1) By virtue of a legacy of «s£800, which he left for 
these purposes. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 71 

will not admit of the removal of this stay 
against the inward pressure of the walls and 
buttresses, without falling in ruins upon the 
heads of its presumptuous violators. 

Immediately above the lace-work of the 
screen, the eye catches the rich painting of 
the east window, which, though clouded 
with dust and cobwebs, still glows with a 
richness of colours that modern art has been 
unable to emulate,^ Thi^ church was once 
famous for the beauty and perfection of its 
stained glass ; of which that at the west end 
was provided by Wykeham, and that of 
the sanctuary and choir by Fox. At present 
we have only the remnants of the works of 
either of these prelates. The great west 
window, though it still produces a pleasing 
effect, especially when . viewed from the 
sanctuary, is now little more than patch- 
work ; and the eastern window, and other 
windows round the choir, have been mu- 
tilated and arranged in an improper manner, 
by the persons who replaced them after 
they had been taken down in the great Re- 
bellion. This will appear from a careful 
examination of them, either by means of a 
glass, or from the organ loft. Thus viewed, 
we discover in them great merit, particularly 
jn the expression marked on the counte- 

* See Supplement. 



72 INSIDE OP THE CATHEDRAL. 

nances of the figures; but, at the same 
time, we observe that prophets, bishops, 
and apostles, are mingled together without 
any order, and that their legends are fre- 
quently misapplied and confused. In the 
upper row of figures of the east window, 
are the figures of our Saviour Christ, and 
of the Blessed Virgin ; between them are 
certain traces of the usual emblems of the 
Blessed Trinity ; the greater part of which 
being removed, their place is supplied with 
the figure of St. Bartholomew, in a much 
fainter style of painting than the rest. In 
the adjoining small compartment are seen 
angels, some holding trumpets, others the 
arms of the see, or of Bishop Fox, whose 
motto is also there read, €£t 5Beo ®racta. In 
the second tier is a bishop, who appears to 
be St. Ethelwold, and two prophets ; one of 
whom, by the circular legend round his 
head, viz. Contremuft terra, moti £unt tmlt (i), 
is seen to be Joel. In the lower range, the 
two figures on the left hand are a bishop and 
an apostle ; namely, St. Swithun and St. 
Peter, as appears by their respective pedes- 
tals. Opposite to the last-mentioned figure, 
on the right hand, is that of St. Paul, with 
his sword. The other representations are 

( 1 ) The earth hath quaked, the heavens have been moved. 
c. ii. v. 10. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 73 

those of ancient prophets, one of whom 
bears the name of jKtalacIjtag on the border of 
his mantle. It would take up too much time 
to describe the paintings on the remaining 
windowsof the sanctuary and choir ;0) which, 
to the number of three on a side, are of a 
larger size, and have the bold circular sweep 
of the arches in Edward the Third's reign. 
They chiefly represent prophets, apostles, and 
other saints, and are not less remarkable for 
the justness of the drawing, than for the rich- 
ness of the colours. Most of them may be 
ascertained either by their legends or the 
attributes of the holy personages which they 
exhibit, especially if viewed with the help of 
a glass, or from the adjoining stone gallery. 
The vaulting which covers the whole choir 
and sanctuary, from the tower to the east 
window, is the work of Fox, and contains, on 
the orbs of the tracery, a profusion of arms 
and other ornaments, curiously carved, and 
richly painted and gilt, in the highest pre- 
servation. We observe, in particular, the 
bearings and devices of the houses of Tudor 
and Lancaster, together with those of Castille, 
in honour of John of Gaunt, father of Cardinal 

( 1 ) Two of these have been sacrificed, by being covered 
over with whitewash, in order to prevent the glare which 
they were supposed to cast on Mr. West's altar-piece. 

C 



74 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Beaufort, the latter of whom left money for 
ornamenting the cathedral ; as likewise the 
arms of the different sees over which Fox 
had presided. The remaining part of the 
vaulting, from the altar to the east window, 
hears none but pious ornaments ; these are 
intended to represent the several implements 
of our Saviour's passion ; the cross, crown 
of thorns, nails, hammer, pillar, scourges, 
reed, sponge, lance, sword, with the ear of 
Malchus upon it, lanthorn, ladder, cock, dice; 
also the faces of Pilate and his wife, of the 
Jewish high-priest, with a great many others, 
too numerous to be described, but worthy of 
being noticed by the curious, for the in- 
genuity of their design, and the original per- 
fection and freshness which they have re- 
tained during almost three centuries, 

We are now at liberty to view the elegant 
stone partitions on each side of the sanctuary, 
and upper part of the choir, together with 
the memorials of the illustrious dead, which 
are seen in this part of the church. The 
elegance of the design and execution of this 
work bespeak the taste of its architect, 
Bishop Fox, even without his initials and 
the date 1525, which appear upon it. We 
also find the arms and name of Edward the 
Confessor ; the initials, arms, and motto of 
cardinal Beaufort, some of whose money, as 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 75 

we have said, was employed in decorating 
this part of the church ; and of an unknown 
benefactor, whose initials are W. F. and his 
motto, Sit Laus Deo. 0) The arches in the 
open work of this partition are in the purest 
and most finished style of the Gothic : but 
certain ornaments on the cornices above 
them are partly Grecian. The mottos under 
the cornices are in different characters : that 
of Fox, viz. €$t <©eo OBracia, (2) which is re- 
peated on the south side, is in the black let- 
ter ; those of cardinal Beaufort, IN DOMI- 
NO CONFIDO, (3) and of the unknown 
benefactor, SIT LAUS DEO, (4) on the op- 
posite side, are in the Roman character, 
though the same date, 1525, occurs on both 
sides. Thus the precise period is discovered 
of the decline of the former, and the ascen- 
dancy of the latter. 

Upon the top of these partition walls are 
ranged six mortuary chests, containing the 
mortal remains of different princes or other 
personages, eminent for their rank or merits, 
most of whom are entitled to the peculiar 
respect of Englishmen and of Christians. The 

(1) Praise be to God. 

(2) Thanks be to God. 

(3) In God is my trust. 

(4) Praise be to God. 



76 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL, 

present chests, tbe work of Bishop Fox, are 
composed of wood,0) carved, painted, and 
gilt. They are also surmounted with crowns, 
and inscribed with the names and epitaphs, 
in verse, of the princes whose bones they 
contain. It is an unquestionable fact, though 
it has escaped the observations of all former 
writers who have mentioned the subject in 
later times, that Bishop de Blois, in the 
twelfth century, first collected the remains of 
the most illustrious princes and prelates who 
had been buried in the cathedral, and de- 
posited them in certain coffins of lead, which 
he placed over the Holy Hole, (2) most pro- 

(1) Godwin, de Praesulibus, R. G. in Vetusta Monu- 
menta, vol. ii. &c. are mistaken in asserting that the present 
chests are made of lead. Most of them have a shell within 
them, but this also is of wood. 

(2) ' Escuinus et Kentwinus, quorum ossa postmodum, 
tempore Hen. Blesensis Wynt. Epis. translatasunt et prop- 
ter ignorantiam qui essent reges et qui essent episcopi,eo quod 
non eranttituli inscripti super monumenta eorum, prsedictus 
Henricus episcopus posuit in sarcophagis plumbeis reges 
cum episcopis et episcopos cum regibus simul permixtos.' 
Rudborn, Hist. Maj. 1. ii. c. 1. This author proceeds to 
relate, that the bones of the kings Cuthred and Sigebert 
were deposited in the said chests : ' Ossa Edmundi (filii 
Alfredi) translata sunt in quoddam sarcophagum locatum 
super locum nuncupatum <£})£ ^Oftt ^ofe.' Hist. Maj. 
1. iii, c. 6. ' Cujus sanctissimae reginae (Matildas) ossa 
moda per Henricum Blesensem, fratrem regis Stephani, 

ranslata sunt et posita in sarcophago plumbeo cum ossibus 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 77 

bably in the same situations which the pre- 
sent wooden chests occupy (U. At the time 
when the choir was taken down and rebuilt, 
at the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
there was a necessity of removing these cof- 
fins ; which being probably found too nu- 
merous, (2) and not sufficiently elegant for 
the situation which they were intended to 
occupy, Bishop Fox caused the present 
wooden chests to be made, to the number of 
six ; one to be placed over each arch of the 
partition. In four of these he deposited the 
remains of the illustrious princes mentioned 
beneath, being those which fortunately could 
be ascertained. The last chest on each side 
he filled with the bones of other great per^ 

nobilissimae Frytheswydae reginae, matris sanctae Frythes- 
wydae virginis, super locum vocatum <3T|)£ J^olp Ifofc.' 
Ibid. 1. v. c. 3. N.B. The said Holy Hole extends from 
the second screen behind the altar as far as the bishop's 
throne 

(1) This is more clear from the situation which our mo- 
nastic historian assigns in the former choir to the bones of 
Stigand, being the same they still occupy : " Stigandus 

jacet in sarcophago plumbeo ex australi parte summi altaris, 

juxta cathedram episcopalem." Ibid. c. iv. 

(2) It is plain from the passages of Rudborne, quoted 
above, amongst many others, that there existed in his time, 
via. the middle of the 15th century, the leaden coffins of 
several princes and prelates, for which there are uo mor- 
tuary chests at present. 

c2 



78 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

sonages, which had probably been mixed and 
confounded together ever since their first 
translation, almost four centuries before his 
time ; and, in all appearance, buried a second 
time those of different princes and prelates 
who were less celebrated for their merits and 
benefactions to the cathedral. 

The first chest from the altar on the north 
side contains two skeletons ; those of the 
first Christian king of the West Saxons, 
Kinegils, founder of the cathedral, and of 
the pious king, Ethel wolf, herexalled Adul- 
phus, who was once a subdeacon of the ca- 
thedral, and afterwards its great benefactor, 
and the father of the great Alfred. It is in- 
scribed on one side, $<£$ ft§B<B3J&&, libit 
Z. ©. 641, (1) and on the other, 3©mEf W& 
$€$, obit a.©. 857.(2) The epitaph is the 
same on both sides, viz. 

ftmjjflgi in ci£ta Jac gitntil o&to jacent tt atmlpfti, 
3jp£iu£ t unoator, jjic benefactor erat. (3.) 

The second chest, on the same side, con- 
tains also two ent re skeletons, as they ap- 
pear to be. One of them is that of Kene- 

(1) King Kingils, died A J). 641. 

(2) King Adulpkns, died A.D. 857. 

(3) The bones of Kingils and of Adulphus lie together 
in this chest. The former was the founder, the latter the 
benefactor of this church. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 79 

walch, here called Kenulph, the son of Kine- 
gils, and the real builder of the cathedral at 
the Saxon conversion : the other, that of the 
founder of the English monarchy, the great 
Egbert. On one side of the chest, is in- 
scribed ft€»HI9l#$ft& «€£, oMta.©.7i4 t 
(1) and on the other side, €4B25€ftd& 
&<&%, obit a. ©.837. (2) The epitaph is as 

follows : 

W fej: €0bertu£ gaugat cum rege ^enufpfja, 
Bobig wzm munera uterque tultt. (3) 

The third chest contained parts of the 
mingled remains of persons of very different 
stations and characters ; the other part of 
them having been deposited in the corres- 
ponding chest on the other side. These 
were the bones of Canute, the great and 

od Danish king ; of his queen Emma, the 
fair maid of Normandy, and the special friend 
of this cathedral ; of the tyrannical Rufus ; 
of the good bishop Alwin ; and of the simo- 
niacal prelates, Wina and Stigand. (4) It ap- 

(1) King Kenulph died A.D. 714. 

(2) King Egbert died A.D. 837. 

(3) Here King Egbert rests, together with King 
Kenulph. Each of them bestowed great benefits upon us. 

(4) Though his name does not appear upon the chest, 
yet we are otherwise assured that he was buried along 
with Wina. 



80 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

pears that these remains, by some means or 
other, had got so intermixed from the time 
of De Blois, that it was impossible to distin- 
guish to whom they had severally belonged. 
This circumstance alone can account for the 
manner of their disposal by Bishop Fox in 
these chests, as likewise for the equal honour 
which is thereby paid to characters of very 
unequal merits. These chests having been 
in part violated by the rebels in the great 
civil war, and many of the bones which they 
contained having been taken out of them, 
and scattered about the church, such of them 
as were recovered at the Restoration, were 
laid in the two chests last mentioned. The 
inscription on the chest before us, on one side 
is as follows : 

Sin ])at et altera e regtone ci£ta, reliquiae £urit 

caimatg et «mjP3E regum, €MM3i€ it* 
gtnff, U93I$a« et ailMBS eptecorum. (i) 

On the opposite side is this inscription : 
Hac in cista A.D. 1661, promiscue recon- 
dite* sunt ossa Priricipum et Prcelatorum 
sacrilega barbarie dispersa, A.D. 1642. (2) 

(1) In this chest, and in that opposite to it on the other 
side, are the remains of Canute and Rufus, kings; of 
Emma, queen; and of Wina and Alwin, bishops. 

(2) In this chest, A. D. 1661, were promiscuously laid 
together the bones of the princes and prelates which had 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 81 

We have said that the fourth chest, being 
the one on the south side directly opposite to 
the last mentioned, is similar to it, both as to 
its contents and inscriptions. 

In the fifth chest, which is the middle- 
most on the south side, lies the mortal part 
of Edmund; the eldest son of Alfred, whom 
his father caused to be crowned king in his 
own life-time. The son, how r ever, dying 
before the father, and previously even to the 
latter s resolution of building the new monas- 
tery for the burying place of his family, he 
was interred in a spot which we shall after- 
wards point out in this cathedral, whence his 
bones were removed to the present shrine. 
This bears, on each of its sides, the following 
title and inscription : 

«C©3B«B®«i8 «££ obit 3.©. 
<©uem ttieca Ijcec rtttnet €DmunDum gugcipe Ci)rigte t 
<©ui totoente patre regia Septra tultt. (i) 

The sixth chest, being that next to the 
altar, preserves the relics of the pious Edred, 
youngest son of Edward the elder, who, 
dying rather suddenly, was, by the direction 

been scattered about by sacrilegious barbarism in the year 
1642. 

(I) King Edmund, died A,D Him whom this 

chest contains, and who swayed the royal sceptre while hist 
father was yet living, do thou, O Christ, receive. 



82 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

of his friend, St. Dunstan, buried in this ca- 
thedralj to which he had been a great bene- 
factor. The title and epitaph, supplying the 
abbreviations, 0) is the same on each side of 
the chest : 

<£®$i€®>M& &€¥, obit 0.®>. 955. 
$oc piu£ in tumuio rep <£DreDu£ requiegcit, 
<©m £a£ 2Britoniim terras rejc erat esregie. (2) 

(1) N, B. In transcribing these inscriptions, we have, 
throughout, supplied the abbreviations. 

(2) King Edred, died A, D. 955. The pious Edred 
rests in this tomb, who admirably wtll governed this 
country of the Britons. 

*^* In the course of the summer of 1797, whilst the 
Author was absent in the north of England, certain gentle- 
men of distinguished talents and learning, officers in the 
West York regiment of militia, being desirous of investi- 
gating the antiquities of this city more attentively and mi- 
nutely than is usually done by strangers, obtained per- 
mission to open certain tombs in the cathedral, and to ex- 
amine the contents of the mortuary chests round its choir. 
Having completed these scientific researches with all the 
respect that is due to the illustrious dead, one of their 
number, Henry Howard, Esq. of Corby Castle, was so 
obliging as to communicate to the Author a very per- 
spicuous account of their discoveries ; an extract from 
which, with his permission, relating to the contents of the 
chests, is here inserted for the information of the reader. 

" July 7, assisted by Mr. Hastings, surgeon of the 
North Gloucester militia, we looked into the different 
chests, said to contain the bones of the Saxon kings. The 
first chest, inscribed Kinegils and Adulphus contains two 
skulls and two sets of thigh and leg bones. We measured 
the skulls and thighs, to find out whether there was any 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 83 

We shall now mention such other monu- 
ments and graves of princes and prelates, as 

difference in the size from that of the present race of men, 
and found the first skull, from the posterior part of the 
ossa temporis, to measure 5| inches, and the second skull 
5y T 3 inches. Ditto from the inferior part of the os frontis 
to the os occipitis, 1\ inches. Second skull ditto. These 
measurements, and, indeed, those of the others, prove that 
there was no superiority of size. From the contents of 
the chest, it does not appear that the bones do not belong 
to the kings with whose names it is inscribed. 

Second chest, inscribed Egbert and Kenulph. This 
contains three skulls, one of which is very small. One 
thigh bone, wanting a fellow, is very stout, and measured 
19^ inches long. But the two leg bones, one of which is 
rather deformed, and the two hip bones belonging to this 
body, are in the chest, and answer exactly. There are 
also two other thigh bones and two leg bones that pair ; 
so that, with the exception of the third skull, these may be 
the bones of the aforesaid kings. 

Third and fourth chests, bearing the names of Canute, 
Rufus, Emma, Wina, Alwin, and Stigand. Neither of 
these contains any skull ; but they are full of thigh and 
leg bones, one set of which, in the third chest, is much 
smaller and weaker than the rest. This, with the super- 
numery skull in the second chest, might possibly have be- 
longed to Queen Emma. 

The fifth chest, inscribed Edmund, contains five skulls, 
and three or four thigh bones. One of the skulls, from 
the state of the sutures, belonging to a very old man ; 
another also belonging to an old person ; these, therefore, 
might have belonged to Wina and Alwin. 

The sixth chest, inscribed Edred, contains many thigh 
bones and two skulls. It is to be observed, that the skulls 
actually at present in the chest are twelve in number, 
which is also the number of the names inscribed on the 



84 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

occur in this part of the church. Under the 
chest of Egbert, is a table monument, half 
let into the partition wall, which incloses the 
body of the religious bishop, John de Pointes, 
or de Pontissara, the founder of the ancient 
college of St. Elizabeth, close to Wykeham's 
college of St. Mary, near this city. The 
epitaph is this : 

©ef tinctf corpus tumulus tenit t£te 3!oann# 
$mntt$, !©mtonte #raegulig ejrimu— obit 1304/1) 

Against the wall, near the pulpit, is a simi- 
lar monument, containing the ashes of 
Bishop Richard Tolive, or of Ilveschester, 
the successor of Henry de Blois, with this 
inscription : 

$Ffi#uIiiS egtep paugant fjic membra ifttcarfcu 
OToclutoe, cui £ummi gauDia £unto poll. (2) 

Immediately before the ancient altar lie 
the remains of the once great and powerful 
prelate, Henry de Blois. But he, who ap- 
pears to have preserved the memory of so 
many other illustrious personages, by trans- 
same chest. It will also appear, from the size of the bones, 
that there was no difference of stature from the present age.'' 

(1) This tomb contains the body of John Pointes, an 
excellent bishop of the see of Winchester, who died in 1 304. 

(2) Here rest the limbs of the good bishop, Richard 
Toclyve. May he enjoy the bliss of heaven above. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 85 

lating and enshrining them, is himself des- 
titute of every memorial in the cathedral. 
Lower down, at the hottom of the steps de- 
scending into the choir, lies the noble-minded 
monk and bishop, Henry Woodlock, or de 
Marewell. He also is without a monument : 
nevertheless it appears that his grave was 
discovered^ 1 ) at the last paving of the choir, 
and that an episcopal ring of solid gold, in- 
closing an amethyst, was found in it, of 
which the then dean (Ogle) obtained posses- 
sion. 

We have hitherto omitted to mention the 
tomb of the last of our monarchs who was 
interred in this ancient mausoleum of roy- 
alty, William Rufus ; though it is one of the 
most conspicuous objects in this part of the 
church, being situated near the steps, in the 
middle between the north and south doors of 
the choir. It consists of English grey marble, 
being of the form that is called Dos d'Ane, 
and is raised about two feet above the 
ground. By whom, or on what occasion, 
his bones were removed out of the tomb and 

(1) From the account here given of the respective situa- 
tion of Woodlock's grave, and that of De Blois, it is much 
more likely that the episcopal ring found on the paving of 
the choir, near the tomb of Rufus, belonged to the former 
than to the latter prelate. 

c3 



bO INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

enshrined, does not appear ; it is probable, 
however, that this was done by Bishop de 
Blois, from a too partial respect for his un- 
cle, when he paid that honour to the remains 
of so many other more deserving personages. 
It may be asked, why the tomb of Rufus was 
left to remain after the bones had been taken 
out of it ? The answer is, that this was the 
usual practice on similar occasions. For we 
are to observe, that unless the bodies were 
found entire, the bones only, and of these 
probably only the greater, used to be trans- 
lated, after they had been washed in wine 
and water. The other remnants of mortality, 
with the clothes and ornaments, were usually 
left behind in the tombs. Hence we find the 
tombs of many saints, or rather illustrious 
personages, still remaining, after the bones 
had been enshrined. In conformity with 
this account we are informed, that when the 
present royal tomb was violated by the rebels 
in the time of Cromwell, there was found in 
it the dust of the king, with some pieces of 
cloth embroidered with gold, a large gold 
ring, and a small silver chalice. We shall 
notice only one more monument in this part 
of the church, viz. that of bishop Cooper. 
The other epitaphs, which former writers 
have mentioned, as being on the north par- 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 87 

tition wall, we do not transcribe, because in 
fact they do not exist there. (0 

(1) It might seem astonishing that Warton, Descript. 
p. 81, and the Anonymous Historian, vol. i. p. 54, should 
so positively assert, that there are, on the north partition 
wall epitaphs in verse, which they insert in their books, on 
bishop Elwin and Queen Emma, when no such verses 
exist, or could have existed at the time they wrote ; did 
not we clearly discover, that, instead of making use of their 
own eye-sight in describing a cathedral which they hud so 
often occasion to enter, they copied Gale's short History 
of the Cathedral, published in the year 1715. It may, 
however, still be asked, how Gale himself came by these 
epitaphs? The only way of solving this difficulty, and 
of vindicating the truth of the inscriptions on two of the 
chests above described, is by supposing that the lines in 
question were inscribed upon the leaden coffins of the 
said personages, or upon some monument near them, in 
the ancient choir, before the renewal of it, by Fox ; and 
that having met with these lines in some old manuscript, 
or other account of the choir in its former state, he sup- 
posed them still to exist there. Having made this obser- 
vation, we will here, in the notes, give the several epitaphs, 
not doubting of their being genuine, and that they were 
to be seen in this part of the choir, 300 years ago. That 
of bishop Alwin, guardian of Emma, and afterwards 
monk, sacristan, and bishop of this church, was as follows : 

HIC JACET ALWINT CORPUS, QUI MUNERA NOBIS 
CONTULIT EGREGIA, PARCITO CHRISTE PIO. 

Here is the body of Alwin, who bestowed many noble 
presents upon us. Have mercy, O Christ, upon thy pious 
servant. 

The epitaph of Emma contained an abstract of her his- 
tory in the following lines : 



88 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Leaving the choir, by the south door, we 
enter into the south-east aisle, which, as w r eli 

HIC EMMAM CISTA REGINAM CONTINET ISTA. 
DUXIT ETHELDREDUS REX HANC, ET POSTEA, CNUTUS. 
EDWARDUM PARIT H^EC, AC HARDI-CANUTUM. 
QUATUOR HOS REGES VIDIT SCEPTRA TENENTES, 
ANGLORUM REGUM FUIT H^IC SIC MATER ET UXOR. 

The sense of this epitaph may be thus rendered into 
English : — Here rests, in this chest, queen Emma. She 
was first married to king Elhelred, and afterwards to 
king Canute. To the former she bore Edward, to the 
latter Hardicanute. She saw all these four kings wield- 
ing the royal sceptre ; and thus was the wife and mother 
of English kings. 

Two other epitaphs for bishops of this see are to be met 
with in Gale, which are transcribed by Warton, and his 
follower, the Anonymous. The first of these also occurs 
in Godwin, though it certainly was never to be seen in the 
Cathedral since the alteration made by Fox in the chests 
and partition wall. This is to the joint memory of Elm- 
ston, or Helmstad, the predecessor of St. Swithun, and of 
Kynulph, or Elsius, who had been a monk before he be- 
came a bishop of the Cathedral in 1086, and stood thus : 

PONTIFICES HJEC CAPSA DUOS TENET INCINERATOS, 
PRIMUS ELMSTANUS, HUIC SUCCESORQUE KYNULPHUS. 

This chest contains two prelates, now reduced to ashes, 
Elmstan, and his successor Kynulph. 

The other epitaph was inscribed on the leaden coffin of 
the noble and learned, but ambitious, prelate, Alfymus or 
Elsinus, who, being raised from the see of Winchester to 
that of Canterbury, perished in the snow upon the Alps, 
whilst on his way to Rome, to procure the metropolitical 
pall. His body, being brought to England, was buried in 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 89 

as the corresponding part of the choir, and 
the opposite aisle, bears the devices and 
marks of the last founder, bishop Fox, in 
every part. Near the door, on the partition 
wall, to the eastward, is seen an inscription 
for the heart of Bishop Nicholas de Ely, 
there deposited. He was a great patron of 
Cistercian monks, and particularly of their 
convent of Waverly, near Farnham. He ac- 
cordingly directed his body to be there in- 
terred, leaving his heart only to his cathe- 
dral. The inscription is as follows : 

2ntug tft tot J&tcolat oltm Btntcn epi^copt cujug 
rorpu.^ e£t apuD HBabecIie. (l) 

Further eastward, within the partition wall, 
is the marble coffin of Richard, second son of 
William the Conqueror ; who came to an 
untimely end while hunting in the New 

his cathedral of Winchester, over which was afterwards 
placed this epitaph : 

ALFYMUS PLUMBO PR^SUL REQUIESCIT IN ISTO. 

In English : In this lead reposes bishop Alfymus. We 
must not forget to mention the original epitaph of the great 
Canute, who was first buried before the high-altar, which 
Trussell informs us was the following jingling line : 

MORIBUS INCLUTUS JACET HIC REX NOMINE CNUTUS. 

Here lies king Canute, illustrious for his conduct, 

(1) Within this wall is the heart of Nicholas , bishop of 
Wiiichester, uhose body lies at Waverly. 

c 4 



90 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Forest, before his brother, Rufus, and his 
nephew, Robert, son of his eldest brother, 
Robert, met there with the same fate. Over 
the same coffin is the following epitaph, in 
the characters of Fox's time : 

3Jnti# t$t corpus fiicfjarDt ©ffibelmi £onque£tori£ 
filii et 25i:orniee ©uri£. (l) 

(l) Within this wall is the body of Richard, son of 
IVilliam the Conqueror, and Duke of Beornia. — On the 
subject of this title the learned gentleman who described 
the contents of the mortuary chests, has favoured us with 
the following observations : 'Beornia Duels is supposed 
by some to be an additional title ; but besides it being, I 
believe, unusual in those times to add titles to a name in 
that manner, it would be difficult to determine what is 
meant by it. Beam, Berry, or the Barrois, are provinces 
to which I believe William laid no claim. But I con- 
ceive that this tomb contains, like many others in the 
cathedral, the remains of two great personages. Earl or 
Duke Beorn (these two titles being used indiscriminately 
at the time in question) was a personage well known in 
Canute's and Edward's reign. He was the son of Ulphon, 
by Estrith, sister to Canute the Great ; and when Swayne, 
the second son of Earl of Godwin, being outlawed for a 
crime, flew into rebellion, and manning eight ships, com- 
mitted acts of piracy on the coast, was persuaded by Earl 
Godwin to repair to him, and endeavour to bring him 
back to his duty ; Swayne, supposing Beorn came to 
betray him, slew him with his own hand; and, accord- 
ing to the Saxon annals, had him buried in a church 
near the spot. But his relations dug up his body, and 
interred it at Winchester, near the remains of his uncle, 
Canute.' This supposition, however difficult to reconcile 
with the inscription made in the time of Fox, becomes 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 91 

Proceeding in the same direction on the 
pavement, close to the south wall, is the 
grave-stone of a bishop, as appears by the 
mitre and other ornaments cut upon it, in 
order to receive a rich and elegant brass en- 
graving of the deceased, which is now torn 
away. It is not of a very high antiquity, as 
is plain from the form of the mitre, and the 
known date of the indroduction of sepulchral 
brasses. This used to be pointed out as the 
grave of Fox, who is certainly known to 
have been buried under his own chapel. 
All doubt, however, on this head was re- 
moved in the summer of 1797, when the 
stone was found to have no grave at all un- 
der it. 0) Hence we must conclude that it 
has been removed from its original situation 
in the choir, or some of the chapels, on new 
paving it, and, from different circumstances, 

much more probable upon attending to the original epitaph 
in the characteis of the eleventh century, which are 
still plainly legible on the marble coffin itself, from which 
bishop Fox's is a manifest deviation, viz. 

HIC JACET RICARDUS WILLI SEPTORIS REGIS FILLI ET 
BEORN DUX. 

(1) " We took up the slab called Fox's tomb, which 
had probably been removed to the place in which it lies 
from some other part of the church, and there was nothing 
under it but the arch of the crypt below." Extract from 
the Minutes of Researches in Winchester Cathedral, in 
July 1797, drawn up by H. H. Esq, 



92 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

there appears more reason to suppose that 
it belonged to Bishop Courtney, who died 
towards the end of the fifteenth century, 
than to any other of our prelates. 

From this station we have a distinct view 
of the gorgeous chantry of the founder of 
this principal part of the church, Bishop 
Fox. There is a luxuriancy of ornament in 
the arches, columns, and niches with which 
it is covered, that baffles minute description, 
and might appear excessive, were not the 
whole executed with exact symmetry, pro- 
portion, and finished elegance, and had it 
not been the architect's intention to shut up 
this chapel from the side aisle. Even the 
groining in the small niches, which are mul- 
tiplied upon it to the number of fifty-five, is 
a matter of attention and study, being differ- 
ent in each of them, and yet all formed on 
true architectural principles. In an elegant 
oblong niche, under the third arch, lies the 
figure of the founder, which he, for the sake 
of humility and public instruction, chose 
should be represented as an emaciated corpse 
in a winding-sheet, with the feet resting on a 
death's head. 0) We have positive assur- 
es) In the folio plate of the Vestuta Monumenta, vol. ii. 
from a drawing of Mr. Shenebblie, though large enough 
to represent these particulars at the head and feet, yet they 
are omitted. A more striking defect is, that the corpse 
there appears to be that of a muscular young man. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 93 

ance that this is the real resting-place of 
his venerable ashes. Entering this little 
chapel, we cannot fail of experiencing some 
of those awful and pious sentiments which 
the venerable deceased, whose ashes are 
under our feet, so often indulged here ; who, 
from the hours of devotion which he spent 
in this destined spot of his interment, ob- 
tained for it the name of Foxs Study. The 
beauty and solitude of this oratory must have 
been greatly heightened by the painted glass 
which, we are informed, filled all the open 
work of the arches, until it w T as destroyed in 
the grand rebellion. The ceiling is rich with 
the royal arms of the house of Tudor, em- 
blazoned with colours and gilding, and with 
the founder's own arms and chosen device, 
the pelican, which is repeated so many hun- 
dred times on his different works in this 
cathedral. This was intended by him to ex- 
press his ardent devotion to the sacrament of 
the altar, 0) which also caused him to de- 
nominate his magnificent foundation at Ox- 
ford Corpus Christi college. The same de- 
votion appears in the emblems of the Blessed 
Sacrament and of the Passion, supported by 
angels, which are seen over the place where 

(1) The pelican was said to be a bird that made use of 
its beak to tear open its own breast for the purpose of 
feeding its young ones with its blood. 



94 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

the altar stood ; as likewise in the inscription 
taken from the ancient church office on this 
subject, which is still legible— O SACRUM 
CONVIVIUM IN QUO CHRISTUS SU- 
MITUR.O) The upper part of the altar 
was adorned with three large statues, and 
nine small ones, which are now destroyed ; 
but their gilded niches still remain in perfect 
preservation. On the side of the altar is a 
door- way, which leads into a little vestry, 
that seems to have been appropriated to this 
chantry, where the ambries belonging to it 
still remain. 

We pass from this chapel to another much 
larger, parallel with it, but quite plain and 
unadorned. This, however, was formerly the 
richest part of the whole church ; for here 
the magnificent shrine of St. Swithun, of 
solid silver gilt, and garnished with precious 
stones, the gift of king Edgar, (2) used to be 
kept ; except on the festivals of the saints, 
when it was exposed to view upon the altar, 
or before it. It is not unlikely that other 
shrines were kept in the same place, ranged 
against the eastern wall, on which may still 

( 1 ) O sacred banquet in which Christ is ? eceived I 

(2) Sanctum Swythunum hujus ecclesiae specialem 
patronum. de vili sepulchre- transtulit, et in scrinio argento 
et auro, a rege Edgaro cum summa diligentia fabricate), 
honorifice collocavit. His. Maj, 1. ii. c. 12. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 95 

be seen some painted figures of saints. This 
chapel is directly behind the high altar, and 
formerly communicated with the sanctuary 
by the two doors which are still seen : it is, 
notwithstanding, a two-fold error in our do- 
mestic writers to term this place the Sanctum 
Sanctorum, and to describe it as the place 
from which the priest was accustomed to ap- 
proach the high altar ; 0) which is to con- 
found it with the sacristy or vestry. It was 
certainly furnished with an altar ; the back 
screen of which consisting probably of or- 
namental wood-work, seems to have been 
fastened by certain staples, which still re- 
main. We are assured of this fact, from the 
circumstance of the early conventual mass, 
immediately after the holding of the chapter, 
being celebrated here every morning ; (2) 
from which circumstance it may be called the 
capitular chapel. 

(1) The Greeks indeed, as we have seen, called the 
altar by the name 'ayiov 'ccyicuv, but there is no such name 
as Sanctum Sanctorum in the whole of the Latin liturgy. 

(2) " Primogenitus (Alfredi) vocabatur Edmundus? 
quern pater, adhuc ipsomet in humanis agent e, fecit inungi 
et in regni monarcham coronari, qui non multo post, ante 
patrem mortis nexibus deprimitur, et in veteri monasterio 
Wyntoniensi sepelitur ; ut satis clare apparet intuentibus 
lapidem marmoreum tumbaB ipsius, qui jacet adhuc in 
terra ex boreali parte altaris, ubi missa matutinalis sive 
capitularis celebratur" Hist. Maj. 1. 3, c, 6. 



96 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

On the left of this chapel, corresponding' 
with Fox's chantry, but widely different from 
it in its architecture and in every other res- 
pect, is that of Bishop Gardiner ; being an 
absurd medley of Gothic and Ionic, both in- 
different in their kinds. On the pavement 
of this chapel is the tomb-stone of Edmund, 
the son of Alfred, whom we only know to 
have been a king from his epitaph, engraved 
in Saxon characters upon it, and from the 
text of its commentator, the monk of our 
cathedral. 0) The rest of the pavement, to- 
gether with the iron bars that secured the 
chapel, have been torn away out of hatred to 
Bishop Gardiner. It is thought also that his 
bones have been removed out of their sepul- 
chre^ and that those which are still seen in a 
large antique coffer^ at the upper end of the 

(l) " Et est epitapham (supradicti Edmundi) in mar- 
more scriptum istud, $ic jacet a&Dmuntiu£ ftejc $toel- 

te&i r£gt£ filiugn Ossa vero Edmundi regis jam translata 
sunt in quoddam sarcophagum locatum super locum nun- 
cupatum <£?)£ 5^0tp 5(if0fe." Ibid. Rudborne, on this 
occasion, mentions that the said heroic monarch bore five 
different names, viz. Alured, Alfred, Elured, Elfred r 
and Eweldred. The three names in italics are here given, 
according to their true reading, from the original epitaph 
and other authentic records, instead of the faulty text of 
Warton. The last name is not even rightly copied in the 
Vestusta Monumenta, the draughtsman having mistaken a 
Saxon W for a G. The same is accordingly there printed 
Egeldredi. 



INSIDR OF THE CATHEDRAL. 97 

chapel, form part of them, 0) which no per- 
son since has had the humanity to cover. 1 * 
Whatever might have been the character of 
their owner, certainly, in their present abject 
state, handled and thrown about every day 
in the year, they seem to call upon the spec- 
tator, with the unburied skeleton of Archy- 
tas — 

At tu vagae ne parce malignus arenae 
Ossibus et capiti inhumato, 
Particulum dare. 

Horat. Lib. 1. Od. xxviii. (2) 

Returning the way by which we went, 
through the capitular chapel and Fox's 
chantry, when we have turned round the 
corner of the latter, we find ourselves in 
what may be called De Lucy's church. In 
fact, this is evidently the workmanship of 
that munificent prelate, and the early stage 
of Gothic architecture, as we have proved 
against our Winchester antiquaries, in our 
survey of the outside of this church ; and as 
the glance of an eye here within it will at once 
convince the intelligent spectator. The ob- 

(1) A few years back there were many bones besides 
those now in the coffer, and, amongst the rest, a skull. 

(2) Nor thou, my friend, refuse, with impious hand, 
A little portion of this wandering sa?id 

To these my poor remains.— -Francis. 

* See Supplement* 

c5 



98 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

jects which first arrest our attention in this 
part; are the magnificent chantries of Cardinal 
Beaufort and of Bishop Waynflete, which 
correspond with each other in form and 
situation, filling up the middle arch on each 
side. The former of these, for elegance of 
design and execution, would be admired by 
the generality of spectators, no less than by 
connoisseurs, as the most elegant chantry in 
the cathedral, if not in the whole kingdom, 
were it not neglected, and consigned to dust 
and ruin, equally by his family, his founda- 
tion, and his cathedral, to all which he 
proved so liberal a benefactor.^ The co- 
lumns, though of hard Purbeck marble, are 
sharped into elegant clusters. Nothing can 
exceed the beauty of the fan-work in the 
ceiling ; of the canopies, with their studded 
pendants ; and of the crocketted pinnacles ; 
though of these a horse-load has fallen, or 
been taken down, which is kept in one of 
the neighbouring chapels. The low balus- 
trade and tomb are of grey marble ; the lat- 
ter is lined with copper, and was formerly 
adorned on the outside with the arms of the 
deceased, enchased on shields. There was 
also, originally, an inscription on a brass 
fillet, round the upper part of the tomb, as 
is still seen on those of Edington and Wyke- 

* See Sapplement. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 99 

ham ; but the greater part of this was torn 
away in the reign either of Edward VI. or 
Elizabeth: as, when Godwin wrote, 0) only 
the following words remained upon it, which 
now also have disappeared : ftribularer ft ne£ci- 
rem migericoriiiag tua£. (V The humble hope, 
however, expressed in these words, which 
were probably of the deceased's own choos- 
ing ; the pious tenor of his will, signed only 
two days before his death ; and the placid 
frame of his features in the figure before us, 
which is perhaps a portrait, lead us to dis- 
credit the fictions of poets and painters, who 
describe him as dying in despair. (3) The 
figure represents Beaufort in the proper 
dress of a cardinal — the scarlet cloak and 
hat, with long depending chords, ending in 
tassels of ten knots each. (4) At the upper 
end of the chantry, under a range of niches 

(1 ) He wrote his commentary in the reign of James I. 

(2) I should be in anguish did I not know thy mercies. 
—This express passage, however, is not in the book of 
Psalms nor in any other part of the Scriptures, as the 
learned R. G. supposes in Vetust. Monum. (Soc. Antiq. 
vol. ii.) but forms part of an antiphon in the Roman 
Breviary. 

(3) Shakspeare and Sir Joshua Reynolds : the former 
in his Henry VI. — the latter in a celebrated picture in the 
Shakspeare Gallery. 

(4) Even such minutiae as these were settled in the 
ceremonial of past times. 

i L.'oi *« 



100 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

which are robbed of their statues, stood an 
altar, at which, in virtue of his last will, three 
masses were daily said for the repose of his 
own soul, and those of his parents and royal 
relations therein mentioned. 

The opposite chantry, that of Bishop 
Waynflete, is likewise incomparably beauti- 
ful, and by most spectators is preferred to the 
one which has just been described. The 
great advantage, however, which it has over 
it, is in the attention that is paid by his child- 
ren of Magdalen College, Oxford, to keep it 
clean and in perfect repair. The cental part 
of the chapel, which in Beaufort's monument 
is left open, is here inclosed with light arch- 
work, surmounted with an elegant cornice, 
in which, and in the work in general, we ob- 
serve that the arches begin to flatten. The 
figure of the bishop appears in his full pon- 
tificals of mitre, crosier, casula, stole, maniple, 
tunicle, rochet, amice, alb, sandals, gloves, 
and ring. He is represented in the attitude 
of prayer, emblamatically offering up his 
heart, which he holds in his hands, in allu- 
sion to that passage of the Psalmist, My soul 
is always in my hands. But there does not 
appear ever to have been an inscription on 
the tomb. 

In a line with these two chantries, against 
the south wall, is a marble figure, in an erect 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 101 

posture, of Sir John Clobery, ornamented 
with all kinds of modern military accoutre- 
ments and emblems. The taste and execu- 
tion of this figure and monument, when 
contrasted with those of Cardinal Beaufort 
near it, are by no means calculated to prove 
the superiority of the seventeenth century 
over the fifteenth in the cultivation of the 
liberal arts. The epitaph, however, has 
more merit, and though of late date, deserves 
to be here inserted for the information which 
it conveys : 

M.S. 

Johannis Clobery, militis, 

Vir in omni re eximius, 

Artem bellicam 

Non tantum optime novit, 

Sed ubique felicissime exercuit. 

Ruentis patriae simul et Stuartorum domus 

Stator auspicatissimus, 

Quod Monchius et ipse 

Prius in Scotio animo agitaverent, 

Ad Londinum venientes 

Facile effectum dabant ; 

Unde pacem Anglias, Calorum II. solio, 

(Universo populo plaudente) 

Reslituerunt. 

Inter armorum negotiorumque strepitum, 

(Res raro militibus usitata) 

Humanioribus Uteris sedulo incubuit, 

Et singulares animi dotes 

Tarn exquisita eruditione expolivit, 

Ut Athenis, potius quam castris, 

Senuisse videretur. 

c6 



102 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Sed, corpore demum morbo languescente, 
Se tacite mundi motibus subduxit, 

Ut coelo, quod per totam vitam 

Ardentis anhelaverat, uniee vacaret. 

Obiit anno salutis 1687, aetatis suae 63. 

Hoc monumentum charissima defuncti, 

Relicta, ceu ultimum amoris indicium, 

Poni curavit. 

Sacred to the memory of 

Sir John Clobery, Knight. 

Excelling, as he did, in every thing, 

He in such a manner cultivated the military art. 

As not only thoroughly to understand it, 

But also to apply it to the best purposes. 

Becoming the prop of his fallen country, 

And of the House of Stuart, 

He planned those measures, 

With his friend, Monk, in Scotland, 

Which, when they came to London, 

They happily brought to pass ; 

By which peace was restored to England, 

Charles 11. to his throne, 

And unbounded joy to the whole nation. 

Amidst the noise of arms, and public business, 

(A rare example to soldiers) 

He applied himself to intense study, 

And to the cultivation of his singular talents, 

So as to appear to have spent his life 

Bather in the academy than in the camp. 

At length his corporal strength failing him, 

He withdrew himself from worldly concerns, 

That he might better prepare himself for heaven, 

Which had long been the only object of his wishes. 

He died in the year of our Lord 1687. 

Of his age pi. 

His faithful widow 

Caused this monument (the last mark of her love) 

To be here erected. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 103 

Advancing beyond the two grand chantri is 
in the middle of the centre aisle, before the 
entrance into the chapel of the Virgin Mary, 
we come to a flat monument of grey marble, 
without inscription or ornament upon it, 
raised about two feet above the ground. 
This is pointed out, not only by vergers, 
but also by antiquaries, as the actual torn ) 
of Lucius, the first Christian king, and the 
original founder of the cathedral in the se- 
cond century. The absurdity of this opinion 
must strike every person of common infor- 
mation. For if this be the resting-place 
and the memorial of that celebrated person- 
age, how comes it that the fact has escaped 
the notice of our original historians^ and of 
Rudborne himself, who is in the greatest 
darkness or uncertainty concerning the lat- 
ter part of his history ? Again, how can we 
suppose so obnoxious a monument, had it 
previously existed, would have been permit- 
ted to remain, when the agents of Dioclesian 
levelled the whole original edifice to the 
ground ; and afterwards, when Cerdic chang- 
ed the second church, here erected, into a 
heathen temple ? But it is easy to trace this 
error to its source. The fact is, Bishop de 
Lucy, the last founder of this part of the 
cathedral, is here buried in the centre of hi 
own work, as we gather from the most an 



104 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

thentic records; the similarity of whose name 
with that of Lucius, has occasioned the story 
in question. 0) 

Three enclosed chapels form the eastern 
extremity of the whole sacred fabric. The 
chantry, on the south side, is fitted up in a 
peculiar style of richness and elegance, the 
ornaments with which it is covered being 
carved in oak. These consist of vine leaves, 
grapes, tabernacles, armorial bearings, and 
the motto %au$ ttbt €£ri£te,(2) repeated an 
incredible number of times. The prelate who 
lies here buried, Thomas Langton, having 
previously to his decease, which happened 
by the plague in the year 1500, being elected 
to the see of Canterbury, we find the arms 
of that see in various parts represented 
with those of Winchester. In the centre 
of the chapel is the altar tomb of the de- 
ceased, which was originally exceedingly 
elegant, but which is now stripped of every 
metal ornament for which a price could be 

(1) The following is the account of the examination of 
this tomb in July, 1797 : " The tomb, said to be that of 
Lucius, the first Christian King, had evidently been opened 
before. There was in it a skull of common size, the 
thigh bones lying near it, and the remains of silk garments 
of a yellow colour, which might have been formerly either 
purple or red. Some parts had been embroidered with a 
narrow stripe of gold." Extract of a letter from H. H. Esq. 

(2) Praise be to thee, O Christ I 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 405 

obtained. There is a profusion of rebusses 
on the groining of the ceiling, in confor- 
mity with the taste of the age. Amongst 
these we see the musical note called a long 
inserted in a ton, in allusion to the name 
Langton ; a vine growing out of a ton, to 
denote his see, Winton ; a hen sitting on a 
ton, signifying the prior of the cathedral, who 
was his contemporary, Henton, or Hunton ; 
and a dragon issuing out of a ton, the mean- 
ing of which we cannot unriddle. 

The middle chapel, dedicated to the blessed 
Virgin, hence called amongst antiquaries the 
Lady Chapel, was originally no longer than 
the other two. We see distinctly where the 
architecture of Bishop de Lucy, the most 
elegant that his age is acquainted with, ends ; 
and where the work of Prior Silkstede, which 
has lengthened this chapel by one half, be- 
gins. It appears that the additional part 
was begun by Silkstede's predecessor, Thomas 
Hunton, and that he only finished and orna- 
mented it. For, looking up to the groining 
round the centre orbs, one representing the 
Almighty, the other the Blessed Virgin, we 
find the following characters and l^ebusses : 
the letter T, the syllable Hun, the figure of 
a ton, for Thomas Hunton, and the figure 1 
for prior. In like manner, we see the letter 
T, the syllable silk, a steed, or horse, and the 



10(J INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

figure 1, for Thomas Silkstede, prior. In 
other parts of the chapel and cathedral we 
find the letter T, with a skein of silk twisted 
round it, to denote the same person; with 
the vine and the ton ; which ornament often 
occurs. There are other proofs, from the 
arms of Queen Elizabeth, wife of Edward 
VI. and those of the Grey family, that the 
addition to this chapel was begun to be built 
whilst Hunton was prior, but that it was 
finished and ornamented by Silkstede. The 
latter fact is attested by an imperfect inscrip- 
tion under the portrait of this prior which is 
still visible, with the insignia of his office, 
over the piscina in this chapel, of which the 
following words are part : 

<§>tffc£te&e . . . ju^tt quoque £ara pofita 
&umptifeu£ ornari, &ancta jl&aria, £tttg. (i) 

The ornaments, of which mention is here 
made, consist in certain curious paintings, 
partly historical and partly allegorical (relat- 
ing chiefly to miracles ascribed to the pray- 
ers of the holy patroness of this chapel), 
which almost cover the whole of the new 
erection. The subject of one of them, in- 
deed, is drawn from the Holy Scripture, viz. 

(1) Silkstede also caused these polished stones, (O Mary} 
to be ornamented at his expense. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 107 

the Annunciation ; and those of a few others 
occur in credible historians ; as that of St. 
Gregory's procession in the time of the 
plague : in general, however, the stories here 
delineated are collected from unauthenticated 
legends. 0) Nevertheless, they had not any 

(1) The author has explained the meaning of as many 
of these paintings as are not quite defaced, in a work 
entitled Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting, 
by J. Carter, Architect, where plates of the same occur. 
One of these, however, representing an execution, being 
the first in the lower tier on the north side, he has reason 
to think relates to a different subject from that which he 
there mentioned. Being described as a national event, 
and productive of a new regulation in the administration 
of justice, it deserves to be related. HarpsBeld reports, 
in his account of the reign of Henry VII. that one Richard 
Boys, a native of Salisbury, having been unjustly con- 
demned and executed for theft, upon being conveyed to 
a neighbouring church-yard, after hanging an hour, was 
found to be alive, when he declared that he had been 
saved from death by the prayers of the blessed Virgin, 
and of the pious murdered king, Henry VI. who was 
then universally considered as a saint. He accordingly 
paid a visit of devotion to the celebrated monastery dedi- 
cated to the Blessed Virgin at Walsingham, and to the 
tomb of the above mentioned king at Windsor, where he 
left the halter with which he had been suspended. This 
event, which made a great noise, and another of a similar 
nature with respect to one Thomas Fuller, of Hammer- 
smith, who was executed for the crime of driving away 
cattle, of which he was innocent, and said to have been 
preserved in the same manner, seem to have given occa- 
sion to the law mentioned in the History and Survey of 
Winchester, vol. i, p. 320, which required that all per- 



108 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

pernicious tendency which required them to 
be obliterated. At present they are highly 
curious and valuable for the information 
which they convey concerning the customs 
of former times. We observe the different 
attempts that have been made to deface them 
probably in the reign of Elizabeth ; first by 
scraping the walls, secondly, by daubing 
them over with a coarse paint, and lastly, 
by white- washing them. This last operation 
has been the means of preserving them ; for 
the white-wash having, of late years, fallen 
off, we now view them in a more perfect 
state than we should have done if they had 
been exposed to the air during the whole 
intervening period. In this chapel of her 

sons under trial who were unable to procure counsel, 
should be furnished with it gratis. On this subject our 
author launches out into certain reflections, which prove 
either that trial by jury was not so popular formerly as it 
is at present, or that juries were then more ignorant and 
corrupt. Speaking of the judges, he says, " Hem non 
tarn ad suum judicium, libere et constanter animi sui mo- 
tum sequentes, quam ad 12 illorum judicium aut potius 
prejudicium revocant, a quo roro discedere solent. Qui 
cum nonnunquam vel ignorantia decepti, vel hominum 
potentiorum minis atque auctoritate confracti, vel gratia 
atque affectibus sinistris depraviti, reos nonnullos pronun- 
ciant qui ab intentato crimine prorsus sunt immunes : 
judices etiam saspe nulla alia accuratiore cognitione ad- 
hibita, et toti quasi ab eorum dictatis pendentes, innocentes 
injusto addicunt supplicio. Hist. Eccles. Anglic. Saec. 15. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 109 

patroness, Queen Mary, chose to have her 
marriage ceremony with Philip of Spain 
performed, and the chair on which she sat 
on this occasion is still shown there. It 
appears that there was formerly a particular 
sextry, or sacristy, belonging to this chapel, 
on the north side of it, with a garden, which, 
long after the former was demolished^ con- 
tinued to be called Paradise. 

The remaining of the three above-men- 
tioned chapels, from the figures of angels 
which still cover the whole vaulting of it, 
was probably dedicated to the Guardian An- 
gels. It is not unlikely that this was also 
the chantry of Bishop Orlton, 0) though 
there is no memorial of him existing here 
at present. In the place of it we see, on the 
north side, the sepulchre of a modern pre- 
late, Bishop Mews, with his mitre and crosier 
suspended over it; and on the south side, 
the superb monument of Weston, Duke of 
Portland, (2) with a noble and inimitable 

(1) Richardson, in his notes upon Godwin, says of 
Orlton, " Sepultus est in ecclesia Wintoniensi in capella 
propria." Now there is hardly any other chapel, except 
this, unappropriated, and the style of the ornaments still 
remaining, which stood over the altar, seems to bespeak 
his time. 

(2) He was lord treasurer in the reign of Charles I. 
Echard and Rapin represent him as being a Catholic. 

D 



110 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

bronze figure of him at fall length, and the 
busts in marble of certain persons of his 
family. 

Turning our faces now to the west, we 
have before us the screen which separates 
the work of De Lucy from that of Fox. In 
the front of this, just before the Holy Hole,, 
we find a large grave stone, being about 
twelve feet long and five feet broad, in which 
we can discern that the effigies of a bishop, 
abbot, or mitred prior, in brass, and a long 
inscription, with a profusion of ornaments, 
had been inserted, which have been sacri- 
legiously stolen. This is celebrated, not only 
by the vulgar, but also by learned authors, 
(I) as the monument which covers the re- 
mains of the great patron saint of our cathe- 
dral and city, St. Swithun. (2) The impro- 
bability, however, of this opinion is great 
and obvious. This saint, it is well known, 
was buried, at his own request, in the church- 
yard, in a spot which we shall hereafter point 
out ; and when, afterwards, at the distance 

(1) Lord Clarendon, Gales's Antiquities, Warton's 
Description. — The profound Anthony Wood seems also 
to countenance this opinion. Athen. Oxon. The same 
is adopted by the learned Alban Butler, in his life of St. 
Swithun. 

(2) This name is frequently spelt by moderns Swithin, 
but by the ancients always Swithun or Swithum. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. Ill 

of above a hundred years, the body was 
translated by St. Ethelwold into the cathe- 
dral, it was not deposited in a grave, but in 
a shrine or chest of silver, plated with gold 
and adorned with jewels, which king Edgar 
gave for this purpose. The only method 
then of supporting the received opinion, is, 
by supposing, that, at the Reformation, some 
zealous person, after the shrine had been 
seized upon for the king's use, interred the 
remains of the saint under the pompous and 
costly monument which this appears origi- 
nally to have been. Now, though we doubt 
not that many persons at that period were 
ready to incur such an expense, in order to 
testify their respect and devotion to this 
illustrious saint, yet we cannot believe that 
such a measure would have been permitted 
on the part of government ; as it would have 
been a tacit censure of the conduct of the 
latter in seizing on the shrine. Such was 
our reasoning on this point previously to the 
researches made in the cathedral in the sum- 
mer of 1797, which were primarily under- 
taken for the purpose of ascertaining the 
point whether St. Swithun's remains lay un- 
der this grave-stone or not. We shall give 
below the very interesting account which 
the learned gentleman to whom we have 
already professed our literary obligations 



112 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

more than once, was pleased to communicate 
to us of the discoveries that were made in 
this particular. 0) In the mean time we 

(1) The following is an extract from the valuable let- 
ter in question : 

" Sir, Ililsea Barracks, July 12, 1797. 

" Your absence at the time we had obtained leave to 
make some researches in the cathedral, was a matter of 
great regret, both to my father, Capt. Cartwright, and 
myself, and, I will add, to the vergers of the cathedral 
who assisted us ; and had we not been under orders to 
march to this place, we should certainly have delayed the 
investigation till your return. As it is, the best thing 
remaining to do is to give you an account of our trans- 
actions ; and as I write to a person so much better in- 
formed, both as to the history of the place and every local 
circumstance, I shall confine myself to a bare narrative 
of facts : 

" St. Swithun's Tomb.— Previous to our operations, 
we ascertained, both by measurement and by sound in 
the crypt, that the large square solid of stone, towards the 
middle of the vault, is immediately under St. Swithun's 
tomb. There is a square flint solid beyond it carried up 
in the same manner, but which appears to have been merely 
to support the arch above, between the monuments of 
Cardinal Beaufort and Bishop Waynflete, as on removing 
the pavement above it in the church, we immediately 
came to that arch. 

" On the 5th of July, leave having been obtained, the 
slab, 12 feet by 5, supposed to cover St. Swithun's tomb, 
was raised under the direction of the master-mason of the 
chapter, in the presence of several gentlemen and two of 
the vergers of the cathedral. 

" Under this stone, there appeared an oblong tomb or 
opening, seven feet long and two feet five inches broad, 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 113 

shall observe, that our conjecture, in oppo- 
sition to the received opinion, is now brought 

formed of slabs of a fine white stone, (similar to that used 
in Bishop Fox's chapel) neatly polished, jointed with care 
and art, and as clean and dry as if it had been finished on 
that day. The rubbish, consisting of pulverised stone 
and some decayed mortar, with which it had probably 
been filled to the level of the underpart of the great slab, 
was rather sunk towards the centre, apparently on account 
of its having (as we afterwards discovered) burst into the 
coffin itself. After removing two feet five inches of this 
rubbish, the flat lid of an oak coffin appeared. The wood 
was moist, and in a state of the utmost decay, soft, spungy, 
and light, and easily broken, but still retaining to the eye 
its fibres and texture. The lid had been fastened with 
common iron nails, much rust-eaten, and which came out 
at the touch. The form of the coffin, or rather the chest, 
which contained the bones, was a parallelogram, about six 
feet and a half long, one foot ten inches broad, and not 
quite one foot deep. In some places (as has been related) 
it was broken into by the weight of the rubbish, which, in 
consequence, was found mixed with the bones. There 
was no lead in the inside, nor any inscription. The bones 
lay in an undisturbed state ; the jaw and every rib and 
joint were in their places, the hands were crossed a little 
below the short ribs ; but no ring was found, nor were 
there any coins or chalice. The vertebrae of the back, 
and the smaller bones which lay next the under part of 
the coffin, were much decayed, but the thigh, leg, and 
arm-bones were still solid. The thigh bones measured 
from the extreme points only 18 J inches, which proves, 
that whoever is here buried was a person of low stature. 
On the skull, which is also small, there remained the im- 
pression of linen, or fine stuff, apparently white, but no 
hair. Many of the teeth were entire, but much worn ; 
others, from the closure of the jaw bone, appeared to have 

D 2 



1 14 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

to an absolute certainty. For, first, the bones 
here found lay in an undisturbed state — every 

been lost during life. A black serge, probably a monk's 
cowl, seems to have covered the whole body, and, upon 
the decay of the flesh, to have adhered to the bones : to- 
wards the feet it appeared in folds. The legs were covered 
with leather boots or gaiters, sewed on and neatly stitched ; 
part of the thread was still to be seen, and the leather re- 
tained some consistencey ; it was very damp, I might 
almost say wet. The soles were of what would be called 
an elegant shape at present, pointed at the toe and very 
narrow under the middle of the foot, exactly the shape of 
what I have sent, which you will observe is so small that 
it scarcely appears the size of a man's foot. The under 
part is a good deal worn, of two thicknesses of leather, 
about the consistency of a slipper sole. There were re- 
mains of thongs near it, which may lead to suppose they 
were sandals. T^he boot part, which is very wide and 
came above the knee, was not adherent to these soles. 
The lower part of the coffin, which was very damp, and, 
like the rest was falling to pieces, adhered, in some degree, 
to the bottom of the stone grave, and had stained it; the 
rest was, as I have said, perfectly fresh and clean. The 
depth of this tomb or stone grave was 3 feet 4 inches. 
Whether these circumstances support the tradition that 
this was the body of St. Swithun, you will be able to 
judge better than myself; one thing appears to me certain, 
that the coffin was removed from some other place to this 
spot, and existed lonp; before Bishop Fox's time ; it was 
certainly not by the dry-rot that it had decayed in the 
situation in which it was placed; totally void of moisture, 
it could not have decayed by any other manner since his 
time. One must, therefore, conclude that these remains 
were, at leabt, reputed to be those of 'borne person of great 
note, that the coffin or chest must then have been in a 
very perishable state, and have required great care in die 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL, 115 

rib and joint in its right place. Now this 
could not have happened had the remains 
of the deceased been so often translated and 
removed, as certainly was the case of those 
of St. Swithun during the space of six centu- 
ries. The second argument to this effect, 
which supersedes the necessity of producing 
any further proofs in support of our opinion, 
is, that in the grave before us was found an 
entire skull; whereas we have undeniable 
testimony that the skull of St. Swithun was 
carried away by St. Elphege from Winches- 
ter to Canterbury, upon his being promoted 
to that see, where it was deposited under 
Christ's altar. 0) If we must hazard a con- 
removal, more indeed than succeeded, as the weight even 
of the dusty materials that covered it had broken into it. 

44 To conclude, the remains were immediately after 
carefully collected, and placed in a box at the bottom of 
the vault, with a short narrative of the proceedings of the 
day inclosed in a glass bottle sealed up, the rubbish thrown 
in, and the slab replaced in its former state. 

44 Henry Howard." 

(I) The architect employed in repairing the cathedral 
of Canterbury, at the time which our author mentions, 
was a native of Sens, who, returning home, seems to have 
carried a fragment of the saint's skull, in consequence of 
which St. Swiihun's head was believed to be at Sens, and 
his festival was there kept with great solemnity. It has 
been by such means, and not by those intimated by the 
historian of Worcester, that the heads and bodies of saints 
have appeared to be multiplied. 



116 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

jecture concerning the deceased, whose re- 
mains are contained in the present sepulchre, 
we should say, that in all probability it is good 
Prior Silkstede. The black serge, resembling 
a cowl, and the funeral boots, found with 
the bones, seem to bespeak a person of the 
monastic profession ; the mitre and the 
crosier on the grave-stone indicate a prior of 
the cathedral ; the white, well-jointed, and 
polished stones in the sepulchre, resembling 
those in Fox's chantry, seem to point out the 
time when it was made ; and its honourable 
situation, just before the Holy Hole, seems 
better to become a superior of Silkstede's 
merit, as a benefactor to the cathedral, than 
any other prior, who lived near his time.O) 

Upon the screen before us, we see a range 
of niches, with canopies and pedestals, which 
formerly contained statues of Christ and his 
Blessed Mother, and of the illustrious per- 
sonages undermentioned ; as appears by their 

(l) This opinion indeed seems to militate against the 
argument of our ingenious correspondent, drawn from the 
dampness found in the coffin, which he supposes must 
have been acquired in a different situation. But it will 
be remembered that the leg bones of Edward IV. when 
his tomb was opened a few years back at Windsor, were 
found half immersed in a colourless insipid lymph, which 
could not be accounted for in any other way than by sup- 
posing that it was the matter into which the human mus- 
cles were dissolved. See Vetusta Monumenta Soc. Antiq. 



« 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 117 

respective inscriptions in the following order : 

ttpngtf£u£ rejr. &. 2Mrinu£ ep#ccpu£. Jf£ntoalDu£ 
rey. aDoIpl)u^ rer fifing e)u£. €gbertu£ rer. Hfure* 
du£ rer. €0toarDu£ rer senior. 2ti)etetenu£ rer. 
©omiiuig 3!e?u£. ^ancta Jjftaria. 

oBDreDu^ rec. CDgarrer. ©mmaregtna. 3frojmu£ 
ept^copu^. 45tf):lDreDu£ rer. g>. <£utoarfcu£ rer filiuj* 
eju^. €anutu£ rer. i£arutcanutu£ rer films eju£. 

From this catalogue of names, it is plain 
that former writers have been under an error, 
in supposing that the corresponding statues 
were those of different Saxon kings buried in 
the vault below or near this place ; since six 
of the kings here named were not interred 
at all in this cathedral, but in other places. 
The real cause of these illustrious person- 
ages being honoured with statues in our 
church was, that they were its chief benefac- 
tors. This circumstance, however, could not 
save them from the destroying mallet of mo- 
dern iconoclasts, to whose fanaticism every 
resemblance of a human form in a place of 
worship appeared to be an object of idolatry. 
0) In the lower pail of this wall is seen a 

(1) The late historian of Worcester informs us, that 
Egwin, third bishop of that see, first introduced the use 
of pious images into England. Upon enquiry, however, 
he will find the Apostle of England, St. Gregory the 
Great, was an avowed patron of images, as Bale and 



118 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

small arched way, now blocked up with ma- 
sonry. This led down a stair-case into the 
Western crypt, immediately under the high 
altar and sanctuary ; which being the des- 
tined place for the reception of relics, and the 
interment of persons of eminent sanctity, was 
hence called the Holy Hole, by which name 
it constantly occurs in the original history of 
this city. It is another egregious mistake in 
modern writers, to speak of this as the royal 
vault in which those persons were originally 
buried, whose bones are now deposited in 
the chests round the choir. The fact is, not 
one of the latter was ever deposited in the 
Holy Hole;0) but only such remains of 
persons eminent for their sanctity as were 
not contained within these sacred shrines. 
As a sufficient proof of this, is the following 

Peter Martyr confess, and that the use both of pictures 
and images was introduced with Christianity itself, by 
St. Augustine, who preached the gospel to King Ethelbert, 
" with a cross carried before him for an ensign, and a 
picture of our Saviour painted on a board. " Bede's ficc. 
Hist. b. i. c. 25. King Ina is mentioned, in the records 
of Glassenbury Abbey, as having bestowed upon it silver 
images of the Blessed Virgin and the twelve Apostles. 
Will. Malm. 

( 1 ) For example, we are assured that Canute was ori- 
ginally buried before the high altar ; Rufus, in the choir ; 
Edmund, son of Alfred, where Gardiner's chapel stands; 
Stigand, at the entrance of the choir, &c. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 119 

inscription, in large characters, over the said 
vault : 

$3i£ sib ®3€e &e$n%&&— «? 

Turning round the north corner of the 
screen, we enter into the north-east aisle of 
Fox's church, whose devices, with those of 
Cardinal Beaufort, frequently occur in it* 
Here we view the outside of Gardiner's chan- 
try, which exhibits the same confusion of the 
Gothic and the Grecian architecture, which 
we have reprobated in describing the inside 
of it. His figure, like that of Fox on the op- 
posite side, is exhibited as a skeleton, and 
bears evident proofs of the indignity and 
violence with which it has been treated. 
Proceeding westward, under the mortuary 
chest of Kinegils, we discover in the parti- 

(1) The bodies of different saints are here buried in 
peace, through whose merits many miracles shine forth, — 
N.B. In the year 1789 an attempt was made, in the 
presence of the author, to gain an entrance into the Holy 
Hole, but upon removing the masonry which closes the 
present entry, the crown of the arch above was found to 
have been purposely destroyed, and the whole passage 
and vault to be so entirely choaked with rubbish, that 
there was a necessity of abandoning the undertaking. 



120 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

tion wall the monument of king Hardicanute, 
the last Danish monaich, whose body was 
brought hither from Lambeth for interment. 
We observe upon it the figure of a ship, with 
the following inscription : 

<©iri jacet ])k regni ^ceptrum tulit ^ardicanutu& 
€mmce Cnutonte snatu£ et ip£e f trit. 

*©&♦ 3.©. mxli. (1) 

Near to this, we find a similar monument 
for the heart of Ethelmar, bishop of Win- 
chester, and half-brother of Henry III., who, 
having been long kept out of his diocese, 
seems to have expressed his desire of return- 
ing to it, by ordering his heart to be con- 
veyed to this cathedral from Paris, where he 
died. The following is the inscription on the 
monument: 

Corpus €t])thxian, cuju£ tor nunc tenet #tu& 
&aj;um, $ari£tt£ morte Datur tumulo. 

<©b. anno 1261. (2) 

Leaving now the works of Fox, and de- 
scendnig a flight of steps, we find ourselves 
again amongst the ponderous and lofty archi- 

(1) He who lies here , named Hardicanute, bore sceptre 
of the kingdom, being the son of Emma and of Canute. 
He died A. D. 1041. 

(2) The body of Ethelmar, whose heart is enclosed in 
this stone , lies buried at Paris. He died in the year 126 1 . 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 121 

tecture of the Norman prelate, Walkelin, in 
the northern transept. Under the organ 
stairs is a mutilated bust, in stone, of a con- 
ventual prior or bishop, with his heart in 
his hands ; which, from the form of the 
arch over it, is seen to be much more ancient 
than the tomb of Waynflete. According to 
one account, this represents Ethelmar ; ac- 
cording to another, which is generally fol- 
lowed, it is meant for a prior, by name 
Hugh Le Bran. The former account, how- 
ever, is much more probable ; because the 
turn of the arch agrees with the time of 
Ethelmar, but not with that of either of the 
cathedral priors who bore the name of 
Hugh. Secondly, this bust is not fixed, but 
has been removed from another place ; pro- 
bably from that where the heart rests, and 
where it stood until Fox re-built the choir. 
Lastly, the attitude of offering up the heart 
seems to accord with the dying wish of 
Ethelmar, but has no relation, that we 
can discover, with the history of any of 
the priors. Under the organ stairs, lower 
down the steps, is a dark chapel, that has 
hitherto been overlooked, though it is full 
of paintings which, from the rudeness of their 
style, are known to be proportionably an- 
cient. Towards the east, where the altar 
stood, is represented the taking down of our 

d3 



122 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

Lord's body from the cross, and the laying 
it in the sepulchre : on the south side is 
painted his descent into Limbus, and his 
appearance to Mary Magdalen in the garden, 
from whose lips the word Rabboni is seen 
to proceed. It is not necessary to decipher 
the other subjects ; but, from those already 
mentioned, it is evident that this was the 
chapel of the Sepulchre, as it was called, to 
which there used to be a great resort in 
Holy Week. In front of this, is seen a stone 
coffin, raised a little out of the ground, 
without any inscription or ornament, except 
a processional cross upon the top of it. 
This seems to denote the grave of one of 
the cathedral priors. 

There appears to have been different 
altars, 0) probably as many as five, in the 

(1) The scite of about twenty altars may still be ascer- 
tained in this cathedral, but that was probably far from 
being the whole number of them. A late writer on eccle- 
siastical antiquities represents the multiplication of altars 
in our cathedrals as a late innovation. See Green's His- 
tory of Worcester. If, however, he will look into Al- 
cuin's Poetical Description of York Cathedral, as it existed 
in the eighth century, (for Alcuin wrote in the reign of 
Charlemagne) he will find that it was, at that early age, 
furnished with no fewer than thirty altars. Triginta tenet 
variis ornalibus aris. Gale's x Scriptores versu, 1514. 
The former author describes the altars as being built for 
the sake of depositing relics under them. But, upon en- 
quiry, he will find directly the reverse of this to have been 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 123 

open part of the transept before us The 
whole of it has been painted with the figures 
of different saints and other ornaments, 
some of which still remain. In particular, 
against the west wall, at the extremity of 
the transept, are still seen the traces of a 
Colossal figure of a man, supporting a child. 
This has been mistaken, by former writers, 
for a representation of the battle between 
Colbrand, and Guy, Earl of Warwick,, with 
which it does not bear the slightest resem- 
blance. It is evidently meant for the allego- 
rical figure of St. Christopher carrying 
Christ, (0 which was exceedingly common 
in ancient times. Over this subject is clearly 

the case. Finally, he tells us, that upon the introduction of 
the doctrine of transubstantiation, it became necessary to 
place the high altar in the centre of the cross aisle. In this 
supposition, it was incumbent on the writer \o prove, by 
authentic documents, that, at some determinate period, the 
situation of the high altars in our great churches underwent 
the change in question. This would have tended to fix the 
hitherto undiscovered period, when the faith of the whole 
church was changed in this capital article. The fact is, the 
high altars retained the same situation in our cathedrals in 
all ages ; namely, the east end of the great nave, not the 
centre of the cross aisles. 

(1) See An Inquiry into the History and Character of 
St. George, Patron of England, of the Society of Antiqua- 
ries, &c. by the author, in which the several figures and 
emblems ascribed to different saints are explained and ac- 
counted for. 



124 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

discernible that of the Adoration of the 
Magi. The west aisle of the transept, con- 
sisting of two chapels, in one of which there 
is a bold specimen of the horse-shoe arch, 
is now shut up from the body of the church, 
in order to form work-shops for repairing 
the fabric* 

Having quitted the transept, and entered 
into the great north aisle, we see on our left 
hand the mutilated figure of an ancient 
crusader, armed cap-a-pie, in a hawberk, 
with his sword and his shield ; the latter of 
which bears quarterly two bulls passant, 
and three garbs, for the princely family of 
De Foix ; of which was Captal De La Buch, 
knight of the garter, of the first creation by 
Edward III. On an adjoining slab, are the 
arms of the royal families to which he ap- 
pears to have been related — England, France, 
Castile, Leon, &c. The deceased himself 
was earl of a small place adjoining to Win- 
chester, called Winhall, as we learn from the 
following epitaph, which is said formerly to 
have been on the monument : 

£fjc jacet ©iTfielmttf Come? tie insula Sana afta£ 
©inealf. G) 

(1) Here lies William, earl of the island Vana, other- 
irise Wineall. The parish of Wineall lie* upon the river, 
and might formerly have been insulated. 
* See Supplement. 



ItfSlDE Of THE CATHEDRAL. 1*25 

We now pass behind the pillar, against 
which Bishop Hoadly's monument rests ; 
adjoining to this, at the bottom of the steps, 
is the sepulchre of the staunch old prelate, 
Morley, with an interesting epitaph, com- 
posed by himself, which, however, boasts of 
nothing but his attachment to the cause of 
royalty. It is enclosed with iron rails, and 
over it hangs, probably by his own appoint- 
ment, his mitre and crosier. It is plain, 
from the two monuments now before us, 
that death destroys all distinctions ; for 
never were there men more opposite in their 
religious and political principles than were 
the two bishops of this see, who here lie 
close together. Upon a pillar, adjoining to 
Morley's monument, is a small plate of 
brass, with an engraved epitaph to the me- 
mory of Captain Boles. As no hero was, 
perhaps, ever more deserving of an honour- 
able commendation to posterity than the 
deceased, so never, perhaps, was there an 
epitaph more devoid of orthography and 
grammar than that which is here erected to 
his memory. 0) We could not have be- 
lieved that the author of it was a clergyman 

(1) It bgins, " A memorial! for this renowned martialist, 
Richard Boles, of the right worshipful family of the Boles- 
ses in Linkhorne sheire, collonell of a regiment of foot of 
1300,"&c. 

d4 



126 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

of the same honourable family at the end of 
the 17th century, if he himself had not told 
us so in the epitaph. Continuing our walk 
down the north aisle, we find, lying close to 
the wall, an ancient mutilated figure of black 
marble, with a mitre on the head. It is dif- 
cult to determine whether this represents a 
bishop or a cathedral prior ; if the former, 
and if it has always continued in the same 
place, we have no difficulty in pronouncing 
that it is the monument, and covers the 
ashes, of the great and powerful prelate, 
once the guardian of the king and kingdom, 
Peter de Rupibus ; as it is particularly re- 
corded of him, that, in his life-time, he chose 
an humble place in his cathedral to be 
buried in. 

We now come to what may be called 
the Crux Antiquariarum, or the Puzzle of 
Antiquaries ; the ancient Cathedral Font. 
This stands within the middle arch of Wyke- 
ham's part of the church, on the north side, 
and consists of a square block of marble, 
supported by pillars of the same material. 
It is covered on the top and the four sides 
with rude carvings, which bespeak its an- 
tiquity. There is no great difficulty in ex- 
plaining those on the top, and two of the 
sides, namely, the north and east sides. The 
most distinguished ornaments of the top are 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 127 

doves, emblematic of the Holy Ghost, 0) 
which appear breathing in phials, surmount- 
ed with crosses, supposed to contain the two 
kinds of sacred chrism made use of in 
baptism. The rest of the ornaments of 
this part consist of Saxon zig-zag, pellets, 
&c. On the sides, the dove is still repeated 
in various attitudes, together with a salaman- 
der, emblamatic of fire ; in allusion to that 
passage of St. Matt. c. iii. v. 2, " He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire." But now to speak of the sculptures 
on the south and the west sides of the font : 
these are universally allow T ed to represent 
the history of some holy bishop, but no 
antiquary has-, hitherto, succeeded in disco- 
vering a personage of this description, to 
whose known transactions these figures are 
applicable. In the year 1786, the Society of 
Antiquaries having caused two splendid 
plates of this font to be engraved, their 
learned director accompanied the delivery 
of them to the members, wit;h a dissertation 
on these carvings, consisting of seven folio 
pages ; in which he supposes them to repre- 
sent the history of St. Birinus, the apostle of the 
West Saxons. Conformably with this system, 
he explains the compartment in which the ship 

(l) These figures frequently occur on the monuments of 
the ancient Christians, found in the catacombs at Rome. 



128 INSIDE Of THE CATHEDRAL. 

appears, to relate to the saint's voyage into 
England, on which occasion he makes him 
save some of the mariner^, who were sleep- 
ing on shore, from the imminent danger of 
being drowned by the swell of the sea. But 
we are to observe, that no such incident in 
the life of Birinus is hinted to us by any 
one of our ancient historians. The south 
side he supposes to represent the death of 
king Kinegils, who, being unable to execute 
his pious design of building a cathedral at 
Winchester, worthy of his capital city, and of 
his holy instructor, obliged his son, Kene- 
walch, to take a solemn oath, in the presence 
of the saint and of his principal officers, 
that he would compete the undertaking. 
According to this explanation, the figure on 
his knees is the dying king, who is delivering 
a mass of earth or stone to his son, being 
part of the materials which he had collected 
for this pious work. We apprehend that 
few persons who look upon the original, or 
the copy of it, either in the Vetusta Monu- 
menta, or in the Miscellaneous Plate, in the 
History of Winchester, vol. 2, will be struck 
with the probability of this interpretation. 
With respect to the execution scene, the 
learned writer seems to admit the impossi- 
bility of adapting it to any known incident 
in the life of St. Birinus. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 129 

In rejecting the above explanation of the 
hieroglyphics, we abandon a system which 
we ourselves heretofore supported ; as will 
appear by referring to the dissertation al- 
luded to, in which the learned author ho- 
noured our conjectures with insertion. The 
mistake on all sides seems to have origin- 
ated in a desire of carrying up this monu- 
ment to the highest antiquity possible, and 
of forcing it to apply to our national history. 
On these two heads, a few preliminary re- 
marks seem necessary. The learned author 
supposes that this font, as well as another 
greatly resembling it at Lincoln, has relation 
to the age of St. Birinus, which means that 
they were executed in the 7th century. But 
this is evidently dating it too far backward ; 
for certainly baptism by immersion, which 
was performed by means of a bath, made 
for this purpose, iu a building distinct from 
the church itself, called a baptistery, was the 
practice in this kingdom, as well as in other 
parts of the church, at the time in question, 
and for above two centuries later. Now the 
font before us is not calculated for this mode 
of baptizing, but rather for that of infusion 
or aspersion. It is also agreed that mitres 
did not make part of the episcopal ornaments 
before the tenth century; which, neverthe- 
less, we see on the head of the bishop here 



130 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

represented, in three different compartments* 
In the second place, it is a source of error, 
as we have remarked on the picture of St* 
Christopher mentioned above, to refer all 
ancient monuments of this kind to the history 
of our own country. The saint, whose trans- 
actions we suppose to be represented on the 
side of this font, though a foreigner, was 
better known and more celebrated in Eng- 
land than St. Birinus himself. We speak of 
St. Nicholas, bishop of M yra in Lycra, who 
flourished in the fourth century, and was cele- 
brated as the patron saint of children. His 
name, which was famous throughout Christ- 
endom from the time of his decease, became 
much more celebrated in the west, upon his 
relics being carried off from the said city, 
then subject to the Mahometans, to that of 
Bari, in Italy, in an expedition fitted out 
there for that express purpose. This hap- 
pened about the time of the Norman con- 
quest, a period with which the architecture 
of the church, represented on the south side, 
agrees better than with any other period, 
either more ancient or later. The history of 
this saint is to be found abridged in the 
Portiforium sen Breviarum, in usum Sa- 
rum, and likewise in The Golden Legend ; 
but the most ample and genuine account of 
him occurs in Surius, translated from the 
Greek of Simeon Metaphrastes. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 131 

The first splendid action in the life of this 
saint, which gave occasion to his being named 
the patron of children, was his saving the 
virtue of three virgins, which their father, 
a man of noble birth, but reduced to poverty, 
was tempted to make a traffic of. St. Ni- 
cholas, to whom his parents had transmitted 
an ample fortune, hearing of his intention, 
and of the occasion of it, tied up a consider- 
able sum of gold in a cloth, and to avoid the 
ostentation of his charity, threw it by night 
into the bedchamber of this unhappy father, 
who, awaking and finding a sufficient sum 
to portion one of his daughters, immediately 
married her to a person of equal birth. The 
same circumstance happening the following 
night, the father took care to be upon the 
watch the third night, for his unknown be- 
nefactor ; when, discovering St. Nicholas to 
be the person, he fell at his feet, calling him 
the saviour of his own and his daughters* 
souls. Let us now inspect the south side of 
the font : we shall see this history repre- 
sented, with only those few deviations which 
are necessary for artists, in order to give a 
comprehensive view of a complex transac- 
tion. A bishop with his mitre, crosier, &c. 
is seen .in front of a Saxon church, repre- 
senting the cathedral of Myra. Before him 
kneels an old man, with a long beard, who, 



132 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 



kissing his hand, at the same time receives 
from it into his own right hand a round 
mass, curiously tied up at the ends, which, 
with his left hand, he gives to a female 
figure, as appears by the breasts, long hair, 
and ornaments. Receiving thus her mar- 
riage portion with her left hand, she holds 
out her right towards a male figure, with 
short hair on his head and chin, who proves 
himself to be a man of noble birth, and a 
fit husband for her, by the hawk which he 
carries on his fist. In the intermediate 
space, or back ground, another of these de- 
voted daughters, with long hair and the 
same kind of fillet as her sister wears, is 
actually celebrating her marriage with a man 
richly dressed They join their right hands, 
whilst her left is placed upon her breast, and 
his left holds a purse containing her portion. 
There is not sufficient space on the west 
side to exhibit the nuptials of the third 
daughter. 

The next remarkable incident in the life 
of St. Nicholas, is his voyage to the Holy 
Land.O) Having embarked for this purpose 

(1) In the Golden Legend, c. ii. and in the Sarura 
Breviary, a voyage next occurs, different in some circum- 
stances ; in which, however, a storm is calmed by the 
saint. But the account of Metaphrastes, extant in Surius, 
is more ancient, and best agrees with the carvings. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 133 

in a vessel bound to Egypt, he foretold a 
dreadful storm, which soon overtook it, and 
seemed on the point of overwhelming it. 
The sailors, who, confident in their nautical 
foresight and skill, had derided the saint's 
prediction, now, with abundance of tears, 
besought him to pray for their delivery; 
which, when he had done, the storm was 
appeased, and they arrived in safety at Alex- 
andria. 

Let us now examine the west side of the 
font, which, consisting of four different com- 
partments, is unavoidably crowded. The 
first of these exhibits a ship, with ropes, a 
mast, and a rudder, but without any sail, 
the sure sign of its being in a storm. The 
size of the vessel admits but of three figures. 
Of these, one is labouring at the helm ; a 
second, with his hands up to his eyes, ap- 
pears to be weeping ; and a third, of superior 
dignity, with his face averted, and his hands 
stretched over the waves, seems to be ap- 
peasing them by his prayers. 

St. Nicholas being landed at Alexandria, 
the fame of the above-mentioned miracle, 
and of another which he had wrought at 
sea, in restoring to life a mariner who had 
been killed by a fall from the mast, occa- 
sioned a great number of persons, labouring 

d5 



134 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

under different disorders and calamities, to 
be brought to him, all of whom he cured 
and relieved, according to their several wants. 
Hence, the next compartment to that which 
we have explained exhibits two persons with 
sorrowful countenances, and in a recumbent 
posture, denoting their being ill, before a 
bishop, who, holding one of them by the 
hand seems to be raising him up to health ; 
whilst a third, with unlifted hands and joyful 
countenance, is expressing his astonishment 
and gratitude for the miraculous cure which 
he has just experienced. The lowest figure 
of all, with a cup in his hand, belongs to a 
different subject, as we shall afterwards show. 
The most celebrated act, however, in the 
life of St. Nicholas, next to that of his sav- 
ing the chastity of the three virgins, was his 
preserving the lives of three young men 
of his cathedral city of Myra, whom the cor- 
rupt and cruel prefect of the same, Eusta- 
chius, had condemned to death, whilst the 
saint was absent in Phrygia, appeasing a 
popular commotion there, which threatened 
the worst of consequences. Being informed, 
by a speedy messenger, of what was trans- 
acting in the aforesaid city, he flies ba«k to 
it, where he finds the condemned youths at 
the place of execution, with their necks bared, 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. J35 

and a headsman, with his uplifted axe, on 
the point of inflicting the fatal stroke ;(*) 
when rushing forward, he snatches the in- 
strument of death from his hands, and being 
aided by the authority of certain imperial 
officers of superior rank to Eustachius,whom 
he had engaged to accompany him for this 
very purpose out of Phrygia, he orders the 
young men to be released, and leads them 
back into the city in triumph. In allusion 
to this history, we see, in the third compart- 
ment of this side of the font, three persons 
in a recumbent posture, ready to be be- 
headed ; their bodies being covered with a 
kind of mantle, to spare the labour of the 
statuary. The executioner stands by them 
with his uplifted axe : over his shoulder ano- 
ther person appears to be giving orders for 
the tragedy. The holy bishop's figure is the 
next, though, to prevent the necessity of 
repeating it in so contracted a space, he is 
represented as attending to another figure, 
which belongs to a different subject. 

The last story here represented relates to 

(1) Jam carnifex securim erexerat, et furenti similis, 
truculentos oculos in miseras cervices defixerat At divinus 
noster .... quid agis, sceleste ? Securim contine ! si- 
mulque accedens securim e manibus extortam, abjicit ; tri- 
bus damnatis lumina et manus reddit, bono animo esse 
jubet, &c. Legend. Aur. c. iii. 



136 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

a miracle ascribed to St. Nicholas after his 
death. It does not occur in Metaphrastes, 
who confines his narration to the time of 
the saint's life, but it is reported at length 
by Jacobus de Voragine, and it is alluded to 
in the Sarum Breviary. A certain noble- 
man, being destitute of children, made a vow- 
to St.. Nicholas, that if, through his prayers, 
he should be blessed with a son, he would 
conduct him, when of proper age, to the 
saint's church at Myra, and there offer up a 
golden cup, as a memorial of the heavenly 
favour. His vow being heard, he ordered a 
rich cup to be made for his intended offer- 
ing; but, when it was brought to him, he 
was so much pleased with the workmanship 
of it, that he resolved to keep it for his 
domestic use, and caused another like it to 
be made, by way of fulfilling his obligation. 
Being on his voyage to Myra, with his afore- 
said son, and both the cups, he ordered him 
to reach a little water, for some purpose or 
other, in that which was first made. The 
youth, in attempting to perform this, fell 
overboard and sunk to the bottom of the 
sea, with the vessel in his hand. The father 
now reflected with sorrow on his irreligious 
conduct, in preferring the gratification of 
his fancy to the exact performance of his 
religious vow. Nevertheless, he pursued 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 137 

his voyage to Lycia, and placed the second- 
made cup upon the altar of the saint, which., 
as often as he performed it, was always 
thrown off to a distance. At length, how- 
ever, whilst the nobleman was offering up 
his prayers, and the spectators were medi- 
tating on the prodigy which they had seen^ 
behold the lost child suddenly enters into 
the church, and relates that, when he fell 
into the sea, a venerable bishop had ap- 
peared to him, who not only brought him 
safe to the shore, bat also conducted him to 
the city of Myra. By way of representing 
this story, we see a child, as appears by his 
countenance, lying in the water under the 
rudder of the ship, in one of the former 
compartments, with a cup in his right hand, 
finely wrought and studded with jewels. It 
was a contrivance of the statuary, to place 
the drowning child where the sea had been 
before represented, in order to find room for 
exhibiting the completion of the miracle. 
Accordingly, we see the same child, as ap- 
pears by the dress and countenance, in the 
present compartment, bearing the same 
studded cup in his right hand, and conducted 
by St. Nicholas, who has hold of his left. 

The only remaining object that claims our 
attention in the north aisle, previously to our 
quitting the cathedral, is the tribune which 

d6 



138 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

closes the upper part of it at the western ex- 
tremity, being of the same workmanship with 
the rest of Wykeham's fabric, and of course 
part of his orignal plan. This is at present 
made use of as an ecclesiastical court, but 
seems to have been erected in order to con- 
tain the extraordinary minstrels who per- 
formed on grand occasions, when some pre- 
late, legate, or king, was received at the 
cathedral in solemn state by a procession of 
the whole convent. At such times the cross- 
bearers, acolyths, and thurifers, led the way, 
and the bishop, prior, and other dignified 
clergy, in their proper insignia, and the richest 
vestments, closed the ranks. In the mean 
time, the church was hung from one end to 
the other with gorgeous tapestry, representing 
religious subjects, the large hooks for sup- 
porting which, still remain fixed to the in- 
side of the great columns ; the altars dazzled 
the beholders with a profusion of gold, silver, 
and precious stones, the lustre of which was 
heightened by the blaze of a thousand wax 
lights ; whilst the well-tuned voices of a nu- 
merous choir, in chosen psalms and anthems, 
gave life and meaning to the various min- 
strelsy that was performed in this tribune. 
All this, we readily grant, is not devotion. 
But will any one deny that such exterior 
means are a help to excite our languid piety, 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 139 

or that they are less beneficial in the present 
dispensation, than when they were appointed 
by the Deity himself in the first revelation 
of his will to mankind ? Will any one pre- 
tend that it was the spirit of piety which 
caused Henry VIII. and the governors of 
Edward VI. to strip the church of her exte- 
rior magnificence ? Our present cathedrals 
are but the remnant, both in their appearance 
and their service,* of what they were several 
ages backward ; still, however, the most 
elevated and glowing geniusses of modern 
times, such as a Milton and a Gray, have 
confessed their power in producing the most 
sublime and affecting sentiments, as the 
former testifies in the following strain : 

O let my due feet never fail 

To walk the studious cloisters pale, 

And love the high embowed roof, 

With antique pillars, massy proof, 

And storied windows, richly dight, 

Casting a dim, religious light. 

There let the pealing organ blow 

To the full-voiced choir below, 

In service high and anthems clear, 

As may with sweetness, through mine ear, 

Dissolve me into extacies, 

And bring all heaven before mine eyes. 

Il Penseroso. 

* See Supplement. 



140 

THE MOST REMARKABLE 

MODERN MONUMENTS* 

NOT NOTICED IN THE PRECEDING ACCOUNT. 

At the bottom of the main south aisle, 
near the western door, and adjoining to pre- 
bendary Warners tomb-stone, is a black 
marble slab, to commemorate the father of 
the present learned Warden of the College, 
novr Bishop of Hereford, with the following 
inscription, the last line of which is taken out 
of Horace : 

M.S. 
Jacobi Huntingford, 

Qui, suis ah ! nimium desiderandus, obiit die ultimo Sept. 
An. Domini 1772, iEtatis 48. 

Multis ille bonis Jlebilis occidit. 

Sacred to the Memory of 

JAMES HUNTINGFORD, 

Who, alas ! to the inexpressible loss of those who knew 

him, departed this life Sept. 30, in the year of 

our Lord 1772, of his age 48. 

Viewing this mournful stone with streaming eyes, 
The virtuous shall exclaim — ah! here he lies. 

Against the wall that protects this tomb- 
stone on the south side, the late bishop of 

* See SapplemeaU 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 141 

Winchester erected a beautiful and costly 
monument, the work of Flaxman, to the 
memory of his deceased lady, whose body, 
as we shall have occasion to remark, is buried 
in the nave of the church, considerably 
higher up to the east. It consists chiefly of 
two large allegorical figures; one of which, 
a young and elegant female, denoting Con- 
jugal Affection, or Domestic Piety, 0) is seen 
tenderly embracing and weeping over a 
funeral urn. The other, a grave matron, 
which, by her attribute of the Calvary cross, 
is known to be Faith, with one hand grasps 
that of Piety, and with the other points up to 
heaven, as the object of comfort and hope in 
distress. It were to be w T ished, however, 
that this figure of Faith had more of her 
characteristic energy and sublimity in her 
countenance and her attitude than are here 
expressed. On the pyramid in the back 
ground, is inscribed that apposite text of St. 
Paul's, " The just shall live by Faith /' and 
on the tablet underneath the figures is in- 
scribed an epitaph highly descriptive of the 
benevolence as well as the grief of the Right 
Rev. mourner. It is as follows : — 

(1) It must represent Human not Religious Piety, as 
the latter is a virtue of a more sublime nature than Faith 
itself, being a branch of that Charity, or the love of Go i, 
which the apostle describes as perfect and immortai. 
1 Cor. xiii. 



142 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL- 

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, 

To the Memory of 

' HENRIETTA MARIA NORTH, 

Second Daughter of JOHN BANNISTER, Esq. and 

ELIZABETH, his Wife, married to 

The Hon. and Right Rev. BROWNLOW NORTH, 

Bishop of Winchester, 

Who, in the 46th year of her age, and on the 1 6th day of 

November, 1796, 

Virtuous, amiable and accomplished, 

Dignified by every moral, 

Graced by every social Excellence, 

Firm in reliance upon her GOD, 

Stedfast in the Faith of her Redeemer, Christ, 

Terminated her exemplary and valuable Life, 

This testimony of his perfect Admiration, undiminished 

Gratitude, and never ceasing Regret, 

Is placed by her affectionate and ever mindful Widower. 

At a small distance above this monument, 
are those of two doctors of physic, father and 
son, each of whom bore the name of Nicholas 
Stanley. The former died in 1686, and is 
praised at full length for his integrity and 
professional skill. Of the latter, only the age 
and funeral date, viz. 1710, are recorded. 
Instead of posthumous praises, the following 
moral exhortation is addressed to the reader : 

Abi, Lector ; hoc breve nihi sufficit epitaphium ; et 
placet, si legas nee tui jam sis immemor sepulchri. 

Go, reader ; this short epitaph is sufficient for me, if, in 
quitting my grave, you think of your own. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 143 

We have already noticed (0 the beauty of 
Dean Cheney's mural monument, who died 
in 1760, erected against the south wall, 
within the fourth arch from the west end. 
It is composed of the finest brocadillo, jas- 
par, and statuary marbles, but designed and 
executed with a taste and skill that greatly 
surpass the value of the materials. From the 
summit of a quadrangular urn, so fine as to 
be almost transparent, a phoenix, surrounded 
with flames, is seen to mount up ; the em- 
blems of immortality. On one side of it 
Wisdom is seated ; on the other side Hope ; 
each with her proper emblems. On the oval, 
in the centre of the urn, Religion is beheld 
opening a sarcophagus, from which the de- 
ceased, with his eyes fixed on her, appears 
to be rising, whilst an angel from the clouds 
is sounding the last trumpet. The whole 
tablet, which forms a circle of a considerable 
diameter, is enclosed with a wreath formed 
of palm branches, bound together. 

On the opposite side of the aisle, sur- 
rounded with an iron palisade, is the marble 
slab which covers the remains of Bishop 
Trimnel, who died in 1723, with a copious 
inscription, containing an account of his vir- 
tues and his honours. The epitaph of his 
brother, Dean Trimnel, (V who rests by his 

(1) See p. 31. 

(2) He died in 1729. 



144 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

side, and that of his nephew William, are not 
less prolix. The intermediate space of the 
south aisle is occupied by monuments of 
several relatives of the late chancellor of the 
c iocese, Dr. Sturges. 

Within the fifth intercolumniation, and in 
a line with Wickham's chantry, is a plain, de- 
cent, mural monument of marble, with fluted 
columns, to the memory of John Pentori, Esq. 
ob. 1724. On the south-west and south- 
east columns of the said chantry, are the fu- 
neral tablets of two prebendaries, who were 
both, in their times, schoolmasters of Wyke- 
ham's college. , The first of these was Dr. 
William Harris, who, dying in 1703, left 800/. 
to ornament the choir, which money was, 
in great part, expended on those Grecian 
vases* that so uncharacteristically filled the 
niches in the altar-screen, where the statues 
of the apostles and patron saints of the West 
Saxons formerly stood. In these days the 
images of patriarchs and prophets would, in 
similar circumstances, be placed under the 
canopies without any imputation of idolatry, 
and certainly with more beauty and effect 
than the above-named vases. The latter of 
these college masters was Christopher Eyre, 
LL.B. who yielded to fate in 1743. 

The sixth intercolumniation of the south 
aisle is filled with the most valuable, as well 

* See Supplement. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 145 

as the most magnificent mural monument 
in the whole cathedral. It represents Bishop. 
Willis, 0) who was interred near it, as large 
as life, with soft flowing robes, gracefully re- 
posing on a rich ancient sarcophagus. His 
left arm, with natural ease, supports itself 
on a pile of books, whilst his right hand is 
significantly extended, and his countenance, 
with speaking features, is fixed on heaven. 
The architecture of the pediment under 
which he rests, as also of the columns and 
entablature that support it, being all of the 
finest veined and spotted marbles, is superb 
without being heavy, and forms a finished 
specimen of the Composite Order. The 
sculptor, whose name was Cheere — a name " 
that deserves to be transmitted to posterity 
with that of Roubiliac, has been guilty of 
one error, which is said to have preyed so 
much upon his mind as to occasion his 
death. He has made his statue face the 
west end, instead of the east end of the 
church, contrary to all precedent, ancient 
and modern. (X) 

Under the next arch is seen a tablet of far 
inferior merit, both for materials, design, 

(1) ObiitA.D. 1734. 

' (2) In some countries it has been the practice to bury 
priests so as to face the west, but this practice seems never 
to have prevailed in 6iir own. 

E 



146 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

and execution. It commemorates, however, 
the indivisible companion and friend of bishop 
Willis, uean Naylor, of this cathedral, who 
died in 1739, on which account the situation 
which it occupies was chosen for it. Under 
the ta 1 let itself is an oval of white marble, 
deserving of notice, on which the proper 
emblems of Death, Judgment, Time, and 
Eternity, are pourtrayed. It is inscribed 
with the significative word, MEMENTO.O) 
The eighth nural monument consists of a 
plain marble tablet, without ornament or 
pompous epitaph, to the memory of Dr. Ed- 
mund Pyle, prebendary of the cathedral, 
who died in 1 776. Opposite to this, on the 
south side of the nave, under a large ancient 
torn!) stone ( 2 ) which adjoins to that of bishop 

(1) Remember. 

(2) This stone, which denotes the sepulchre of a former 
mayor of Winchester, by name Thomas Bowland, and of 
his wife, Editha, deserves the particular notice of those 
who are studious of the history and antiquities of our city, 
as it overturns the authority of one of its most accredited 
records, namely, the supposed list of its mayors since 
Florence tie Lunn, in the year 1184. For it is to be 
observed, that no such name as the above-mentioned is 
therein to be found. The list of which we are speaking 
was, about twenty years ago, painted upon the present 
tables, from an old parchment which seems to have been 
written in the 1 6th, or the beginning of the 17th century, 
a period that was infamous for forgeries of various kinds. 
About that time, some charters and records of London, 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 147 

Home, is the place of burial of the late 
bishop of Winchester s lady. 

Under the ninth window from the west end, 
is the elegant funeral tablet of the late earl 
of Banbury, with an epitaph containing an 
account of his family, and of his domestic 
and public virtues. He died in 1793. In an 
oval beneath are inscribed the name and age 
of the late countess of Banbury, who died in 
1798. 

The last, in the series of mural monu- 
ments in the great south aisle, is one erected 
to the memory of the late Dr. Balguy, arch- 
deacon of the diocese, who being gifted with 
natural and acquired talents that must have 
insured him success and fame in any station 
that he might occupy, had yet the rare mo- 
deration of declining the highest dignity of 
his profession, when it was in his power to 
have risen to it. The proof of this, amongst 
his other praises, is here recorded in his 
epitaph. The monument is, at the same 

as well as of Winchester, began to appear, for which there 
is no evidence of a prior date. The inscription on ihj 
said grave-stone, which is deeply cut in uncial letters, 
stands as follows :— 

tyk jacent Otjjomag 25otoIanD quon&am major 
!©mton Cfoitaty qui ofaitt gerto fcecimo trie mzn$i$ 
<©ctobri£ anna ©m jllftttteftft&o ^uabctgentt^ima 
<&cta$je££imo v. <£t <£iritba uror eju£ qu*e obfit xiii. 
mtn$i$ ©ctobn'g .... 



148 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

time, simple and elegant, being judiciously 
designed and masterly executed. It consists 
of a proper sized urn of Parian marble, with 
a black veined marble pyramid, charged 
with arms, that forms the back ground. The 
whole finishes at the bottom with grapes 
and foliage of the most exquisite workman- 
ship. 

Nearly opposite to the monument of Dr. 
Balguy, and corresponding with that of 
Bishop Hoadly, being placed against the 
pillar on the steps leading up to the choir, 
is a memorial, lately erected, to the memory 
of another celebrated literary character, the 
contemporary and friend of Dr. Balguy, viz. 
the famous Master of Winchester College, 
Dr. Warton.* He is represented at full 
length, as seated in a chair with a book in 
his hand, teaching a set of boys, who are 
standing before him. This mode of repre- 
sentation, however characteristic of the ge- 
neral occupation of Dr. Warton's life, and 
descriptive of the affection and gratitude of 
his scholars, who raised this monument, is 
perhaps less appropriate and less honourable 
to the deceased, than if he had been exhi- 
bited in a rapture of poetic enthusiasm, re- 
peating the verses of some favourite bard, or 
writing his own Ode to Fancy. The "cojin- 

* Set* Supplement. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 149 

tenance is animated, but much too youthful 
to please those who had not known the de- 
ceased till within twenty years before his 
death ; and the live-long wig, that used to 
flow on his shoulders, is ill supplied by the 
stiff-tufted head-dress on the Parian stone 
before us. The countenances, figures, an I 
the grouping of the youthful band are de- 
servedly admired. In the back ground ar -5 
two bas reliefs, inscribed in Greek characters 
Homer and Aristotle, to denote the talents 
of the decased in poetry and criticism. His 
mortal remains (as will be afterwards men- 
tioned) lie in a different part of the cathe- 
dral. The sculptor of the present monument 
is the same who executed that of Mrs. 
North, viz. Mr. Flaxman, of London. The 
following is the inscription engraved upon 
it: — 

H. S. E. 

Josephus Warton, S. T. P, 

Hujus ecclesi© 

Prebendarius 

Scholae Wintoniensis 

| Per annos fere triginta 

Informator 

Poeta fervidus facilis expolitus 

Criticus euriditus perspicax elegans 

Obiit XXIII Feb. MDCCC. 

jEtat LXXVIII. 

Hoc qualecunque 

Pietati^ monumentum 

E 2 



IpiOi INSIPE OF THE CATHED^At* 

Praeceplori optimo 

JLJesiderati^simo 

Wiccamici sui 

P. C. 

On the pavement before this monument, 
and close to Edington's chantry, is the sepul- 
chre and funeral stone of the late Bishop 
Thomas, Who died in 1781. His epitaph 
recounts the successive honours to which he 
rose ; amongst which, the greatest is his hav- 
ing v in quality of tutor, formed the young 
mind of so good a man as his late Majesty. 
Further eastward is a black marble slab, 
with an epitaph to commemorate the pre- 
mature death of Miss Isabella Newton Ogle, 
daughter of the late Dean Ogle, who died in 
1780, agedfsixteen years. 

Within the recess of the south transept, 
wnere it joins the nave of the church, is a 
large andcostly mausoleum of white marble, 
enriched with military and naval trophies, 
and with other ornaments, which altogether 
have a heavy appearance, to the memory ot 
Sir Isaac Towlisend, knight of the garter, 
and one of the lords of the admiraltv, who 
departed this life in 17*il. His epitaph is on 
the foot of the tomb* On the opposite side 
is one to the memory of his lady* 

In- the southihost of the two chapels, in 
this transept, the most remarkable monu- 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 151 

rtient consists of a flaming urn, under a Doric 
arch, ornamented with sepulchral lamps and 
family arms. It is erected to the memory of 
Dr. John Nicholas, prebendary of the cathe- 
dral, and successive scholar, fellow, and 
warden of both Wykeham's Colleges, on 
which lie expended vast sums of money 
with greater liberality than judgment. The 
epitaph celebrates his virtues and good deeds 
at great length : whilst his wife, who lies by 
him, is praised for having ordered, with her 
dying breath, that no posthumous praises 
should be bestowed upon her. 

In the adjoining chapel are several monu- 
ments of the Eyre, Dingley, Mompesson, 
and other families. One of these commemo- 
rates Mary, the lady of Colonel Young, who 
was gentleman of the privy chamber to 
Charles I. She herself was the daughter of 
William Bridges, Esq. and grand-daughter 
of Thomas Bridges, Baron Chandos, (0 of 
Sudley. She died in 1687, aged 80. On 
the pavement, in the front of this chapel, is 
a large marble tomb-stone, with a long 
epitaph to the memory of Madam Mary 
Davis, as she is called, daughter of Sir 
Jonathan Trelawney, Bart. Her husband, 
Colonel Davis, is also here recorded, at 

(1) Called in the epitaph Baron Chandris of Sudley. 



152 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

length, for his valour, and for having received 
his death wound at the famous siege of 
Namur, under king William. She died in 
1707. 

Ascending the steps, which lead out of 
the transept, through the iron gate, into the 
south aisle of the presbytery, after passing 
a considerable way over the hollow crypts 
that undermine this part of the church, we 
come at length to a mural monument of 
very late date, namely, that of Dr. Turner, 
prebendary, who died in 1798. It is raised 
against the south wall, opposite to Beau- 
fort's chantry, and consists of a plain white 
tablet and urn, supported, according to a 
late fashion, by a heavy square pier of plain 
Portland stone. Altogether it offends the 
eye, and produces the most fatal effect in 
strikingly interrupting that beautiful arcade, 
supported by light and bold pillars, with in- 
termediate quatrefoil ornaments, with which 
our ancient prelate, Godfrey de Lucy, orna- 
mented the whole inside of this his portion 
of the cathedral, according to the early 
Gothic style. It is true, this is not the only 
violation of the original work that occurs ; 
for, a little higher up, we behold the stiff and 
clumsy upright statue of Sir John Clobery, 
O) under an Ionic arch, and surrounded with 

(!) Sfee hH epitaph i full, p, 101. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 153 

warlike instruments, which cover no small 
part of it. Still, however, this statue, indiffer- 
ent and ill-placed as it is, has its use in mark- 
ing the gradations of modern dress and ac- 
coutrements. Particularly it shows the last 
remnant of the ancient helmet, which is seen 
peeping above the enormous periwig of the 
reign of Charles II. ; and we see the first 
rudiments of the modern coat, into which the 
cloak of the former reigns was then trans- 
formed. 

Near the eastern extremity of this aisle, 
are the monuments of several persons of high 
rank, but all of them on the pavement ; 
namely, of James Touchet, Baron Audley 
and Earl of Castlehaven, who died in 1700 ; 
of the Countess of Exeter^ deceased in 1663; 
of Lord Henry Paulet, in 1672 ; of Elizabeth 
Shirley, daughter of the Earl of Ferrers, in 
1740; also of the Countess of Essex, whose 
epitaph concludes with the following particu- 
lar : 

Obiit penult. Aug. A.D. 1656, et hie sepulta, oratione 
funebri a marito ipso, more priseo, laudata fuit. (1) 

(1) She died August 30, 1656, and was here interred, 
having been celebrated by her husband in a funeral ora- 
tion, after the ancient manner. The husband here spoken 
of was her second husband, and seems to have made the 
epitaph as well as the oration, by name Sir Thomas Hig- 
gins, Knight, who died in 1692, and lies buried near his 
countess. 



154 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

There is one, however, of these funeral 
stones, directly under the wall, which has the 
distinction of being surrounded by an iron 
palisade. This covers the remains of Baptist 
Levinz, who was, at the same time, Bishop 
of the Isle of Man, and prebendary of this 
cathedral. His copious Latin epitaph cele- 
brates him as an imitator of the primitive 
fathers, and a possessor of all episcopal vir- 
tues, amongst which are mentioned his ab- 
stemiousness and frequent fasting. Such 
were the approved ethics so lately as the 
year IG92, in which Bishop Levinz died. 

There is no modern monument in Lang- 
ton's chapel, at the eastern extremity of the 
south aisle, and but one in the adjoining 
Lady Chapel ; and that is a cenotaph, or 
empty sepulchre, as appears by the following 
inscription upon it : — 

Anno Salutis 1705. iEtatis suae 58. 
Carolus hunc posuit lapidem Layfieldus inanem, 

Praesenti exequias dum paret ipse sibi. 
Si tamen hie nolit Deus illius ossa jacere, 

Turn teneat vacuus nomen inane lapis. 

In the year of our Redemption 1705, of his age 58. 
Charles Layfield placed this empty funeral monument, 
Whilst he prepared, in his life time, his future sepulchre. 
But if it be God's will that his bones should rest else where, 
Then let this stone record at least his insignificant name. 

The occasion of this stone and inscription 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 155 

was, that Dr. Charles Layfield, having new 
paved the Lady Chapel, prepared, at the same 
time, his own sepulchre in it, which, how- 
ever, he never filled. In performing this 
work, there is reason to believe that he de- 
stroyed a great number of interesting ancient 
tomb-stones, some of which, in a reversed 
situation, form a part of the present pave- 
ment. 

In the remaining chapel, at the eastern 
extremity of the cathedral, are, as we have 
already noticed, (0 the monument and epis- 
copal ornaments of Bishop Mews, and the 
altar tomb, with the inimitable recumbent 
statue, in bronze, of Richard Weston, Duke 
of Portland, lord high treasurer under 
Charles L with marble busts of three of his 
family. 

Adjoining to the last-mentioned chapel, 
is a stone to the memory of Sarah, daughter 
of Sir Richard Tichborne, Bart., who died in 
1616 ; also the monuments of several of the 
Mason family, one of whom, a lady of the 
name of Catherine, celebrated for her beauty, 
piety, and chastity, scores her deceased hus- 
bands in the following order : 

r Jobannis Vaux, Med. Dr. 
Relicta J Thomae Hussey, Arrag. 

VRoberti Mason, Equit. Aurat. 

(1) See page 109. 



156 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

r John Vaux, Doctor of Physic. 
She was the widow ofv Thomas Hussey , Esquire. 

LRobt. Mason, Knight of the Garter. 

Not far from the same place are the grave- 
stones of two worthy characters, whose epi- 
taphs, in part, deserve to be repeated for the 
honour of the deceased, and the exhortation 
of the living. The first of these is in me- 
mory of William Symonds, the worthy ma- 
gistrate of this city, who founded CHRIST'S 
HOSPITAL, still subsisting in Winchester. 
His epitaph concludes as follows : 

His merit doth inherit life and fame, 
For whilst this city stands, Symoods his name 
In poor men's hearts shall never be forgptten ; 
For poores prayers rise, when flesh lies rotten. 

The second of these commemorates Dr. 
W. Coker, a physician, whose departed 
spirit is addressed in the conclusion of the 
epitaph as follows : 

Si lapis iste siluerit, enarrabunt te fere pietati monu- 
menta quotquot in hac urbe vagantur pauperes. 

Should this stone be silent, yet the living monuments of 
thy charity, which survive in all the poor of the city, will 
record thy praise, (1) 

Descending from this side of the church 
into the north transept, are various modern 

(l)This and the preceding epitaph being now much 
defaced, are borrowed from Gale, who copied them a 
century ago. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 157 

monuments on the pavement, not sufficiently 
interesting to be here particularly noticed, 
and yet by no means deserving of the ridi- 
cule that has been cast upon some of them 
in a former account of the cathedral. O) 

Nothing now remains, but to give an ac- 
count of the mural monuments in the great 
north aisle, from the transept down to the 
western door. The first of these is erected 
to the memory of the Rivers' family, of which 
the epitaph on the tablet gives a full account. 
This is surmounted by a pyramid of beauti- 
ful black and white marble, with shields upon 
it, elegantly displayed and executed. The 
summit of the pyramid is crowned with the 
family crest, a bull collared and chained. 

Under the next arch towards the west, is 
an exceedingly splendid monument, consist- 
ing of the choicest Parian and Sienna mar- 
bles, with a gilt border round the epitaph. 
The chief sculpture on it represents a large 
urn, with a weeping willow drooping over it ; 
there is also a second urn at the top of the 
pyramid. The persons here commemorated 
are Ann, the wife of James Morley, Esq. 
of Kempshot in this county, who died in 
1787, and James Morley himself, who fol- 

(1) Seethe burlesque verses on the family of Rivers, 
on that of Harris, of Silkstede, &c. in the duodecimo 
History of Winchester, .vol. i. p. 76, 77, &c. 

e3 



158 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

lowed her to eternity in 1798. This me- 
morial is placed at a small distance from the 
burial place of bishop Morley and his family. 
It does not, however, appear that the de- 
ceased, though of the same name, was related 
to it. 

In the third intercolumniation, we view the 
tasteful marble monument of Mat. Comb, 
M.D. who departed this life in 1748. It 
consists of an urn, adorned with garlands and 
flowers, standing upon a sarcophagus, with a 
pyramid and sepulchral lamps. It is a defect, 
however, that the urn, like that of Dr. Ni- 
cholas, mentioned above, is rather an elegant 
vase than a cinerary vessel, which latter re- 
quires to be flat and low, like the one in 
Dr. Balguy's monument. It is also an in- 
congruity to introduce both a sarcophagus 
and an urn into the monument of a single 
person ; the former indicating that the body 
was buried, the latter that it was burnt. 

We next come to a plain Doric monu- 
ment with fluted columns, in memory of 
Charles Woodroffe, LL.D. a prebendary of 
the cathedral, who died in 1728, and of Eliza- 
beth, his wife, who preceded him, in 1721. 
But if the monument itself is modest, the 
epitaph is not so ; for it represents, in plain 
terms, the persons deceased as possessing 
every virtue and qualification which can re- 
spectively adorn man and woman. 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 159 

The fifth intercolumniation is loaded with 
a clumsy monument of bad Corinthian archi- 
tecture, with whimsical ornaments. The epi- 
taph, which appears not to have been en- 
graved, but barely painted, is now obliterated, 
so that it is not known for whom it was in- 
tended. By the style, however, of the archi- 
tecture, it is certainly known to have been 
erected by those Vandals, in the 16th and 
the beginning of the 17th century, who, in 
excuse for having 1 destroyed so much beauti- 
ful workmanship of former ages, branded it 
with the opprobrious name of Gothic. On 
the adjoining eastern pillar, is a neat marble 
monument of the true Corinthian order, to 
the memory of Robert Pescod, Esq. who 
died in 1725. 

The next mural monument commemorates 
Sir Villers Chernock, Bart, who died in 1779, 
and likewise his lady, who departed this life 
ten years after him. It is exceedingly splendid; 
consisting of the most beautiful marbles, and 
being enriched with emblematical sculpture 
in alto relievo. On one side of the urn, 
under a weeping willow, stands Justice with 
her sword and scales. On the other is 
Charity, feeding and clothing poor children. 
The following defects, however, will strike 
every spectator of taste : the sulpture of the 
willow is uncommonly heavy. Indeed none 



160 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

of our cathedral artists have succeeded in 
representing that tree. In the next place, 
the sword and scales of Justice, as well as 
the spoon of the child, are seen to be of 
metal. Now for the imitative arts to adopt 
any kind of reality, instead of the represent- 
ation, is to confess a poverty that does not 
belong to them, and to deprive the spectator 
of the proper pleasure which they are in- 
tended to produce, that of a just imitation. 
With as much propriety might Chfoftty pre- 
sent one of the children whom she is cloth- 
ing with real cloth, as she has furnished the 
other with a real silver spoon to eat his mess 
with. 

The seventh intercolumniation, correspond- 
ing with the ancient font, is the only one 
that we have yet had occasion to notice in 
either aisle, as being vacant of a mural mo- 
nument ; yet underneath this pavement re- 
pose personages as well deserving of that 
honour as any of those upon whom it has 
been conferred. Here lies the glory of her 
sex, the late Mrs. Montague, whose benevo- 
lence and charities the poor will long re- 
member; and whose genius, displayed in 
the vindication of its favourite poet, the 
English nation will never forget. Within 
these two or three years an elegant monu- 
ment has been placed against the wall, above 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 16! 

the spot where she lies, to her own memory 
and that of her husband, who died many 
years before her, and lies interred by her 
side. The figures on this memorial are seen, 
by their attributes, to be those of Justice and 
Science; and on the urn, which is placed 
between them, Hymen is seen extinguishing 
his torch. The figures are executed by some 
foreign artist of the metropolis, with great 
elegance and spirit, and the easy flow of the 
drapery exhibits a lesson to most of our na- 
tive sculptors. It is a defect, that the fin- 
gers are either too small, or placed too high 
above the beholder ; and it is a much more 
lamentable impropriety, that the beautiful 
and symmetrical mouldings of Wykeham 
should, in another instance, be blocked up 
by the rude and heavy screen against which 
the monument is placed. 

Here also rests, without a stone to tell 
where he lies, 0) the far-famed master of 
Winchester College, who has raised so many 
other persons to fame, both by his pen and 
his living instructions, Dr. Joseph Warton, 
lately deceased. 

Near this honoured spot is a monument 
to the memory of Colonel James Morgan, 

(1) Since the first edition of this Appendix, a splendid 
monument has been raised to him, as described in p. 148, 
to which the present hint may perhaps have given occasion. 

E 4 



162 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL* 

late of Southampton, (son-in-law to the late 
Dr. Warton) who died in 1808, aged 68 
years. 

Below the next window, towards the west, 
is another of those clumsy monuments, of 
the period above-mentioned, with an epi- 
taph, which for its qnaintness some readers 
will think deserving of notice. It runs thus : 

A Union of two Brothers from Avington, The Clerks 
Family were, Grandfather, Father, and Son, successively, 
Clerks of the Privy Seal. William, the Grandfather, had 
but two sons, both Thomas's, their wives both Amys's, and 
their heirs both Henry's, and the heirs of the Henry's both 
Thomas's. Both their wives were inheritrixes, and both 
had two sons and one daughter, and both their daughters 
issueless. Both of Oxford, both of the Temple, both 
Officers to Queen Elizabeth and our Noble King James. 
Both Justices of the Peace, both agree in arms, the one a 
Knight, the other a Captain. Si Quaeras Avingtonum, 
Petas Cancellum. Impensi Thomae Clark of Hide. 1662. 

Underneath the ninth arch from the north 
transept, is an elegant mural tablet and 
pyramid, erected by Major Poole, to the 
memory of his lady, who died in 1779, and 
of her father Thomas Lacey, Esq. who died 
lieutenant-governor of Tinmouth Castle, in 
.J 763. There are urns inscribed with the 
above recorded names and dates, as likewise 
a vacant one for those of the major himself, 
but all three of so small a size, that they 



INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 163 

might pass rather for lachrymatories than 
for urns. 

The next monument has been placed by 
Isabella, the daughter of Lancelot Lee, Esq. 
in memory of her husband George Hurst, 
Esq. who died in 1783, and lies here in- 
terred : and two of her children, who died 
and lie buried in India. 

The last mural monument in this series is 
erected to the memory of the late Dr. Lit- 
tlehales, many years physician in this city. 
The figures on the tablet represent the story 
of the good Samaritan, and are beautifully 
sculptured by J. Bacon, jun. of London. 
Below these is the following inscription : 

Near to this place are deposited the Remains of 
JOHN LITTLEHALES, M.D. 
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, 
And formerly of Pembroke College, Oxford. 
His eminent professional talents, by the blessing of Divine 
Providence, 
Were successfully exerted, with a Generosity so dis- 
tinguished, 
And with Beneficence to the Poor so diffusive and un- 
wearied, 
Amidst a very extended practice, 
That his Decease was an Event most deeply regretted and 

lamented. 

The principal inhabitants of Winchester and its Neigh^ 

bourhood 

Have erected this Monument. 

As a public Record of their affectionate Gratitude, 

To the Memory of their Friend and Benefactor ; 



164 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

But from the Saviour of the World, 

Whose Faith he adorned by a Life devoted to Christian 

Benevolence, 

He will receive his final reward. 

He departed this Life the 2d of January 1810. 

Aged 57 years. 

Underneath is a crucifix and a book open, 
en which is cut the following inscription : 

The Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon 
me. Job : Chap. XXIX. Verse xiii. 

The ornaments and entablature are of 
white marble, the ground black marble. 

The general fault, however, of all these 
mural monuments, is, that however beautiful 
in themselves, being universally of Grecian 
architecture, they cannot possibly assimilate 
with the general style of the venerable fabric 
in which they are placed, and, on the con- 
trary, that they necessarily cover some of 
its appropriate and essential ornaments. 
This, indeed, is common to almost all modern 
monuments in Gothic cathedrals. But what 
seems to distinguish those in our own, par- 
ticularly those which have been more re- 
cently erected, is, that they are so placed as 
to occasion the destruction or loss of infi- 
nitely more of the ancient ornamental work 
than there is any occasion for : it being the 
present practice to carry up a large pier of 



INSIDE Otf THE CATHEDRAL. 165 

plain stone from the ground, in order to sup- 
port the smallest tablet, which might equally 
well have been fixed against the wall, (as we 
see in some of those of more ancient date,) 
and even to cover the whole intercolumnia- 
tion with a screen or wall of Portland stone ; 
just as if the rich and beautiful mullions and 
arches of the original architecture, were 
defects which ought, as much as possible, to 
be concealed from view. 0) 

(1) To form a judgment how much the practice, here 
reprobated, takes ofF from the perfection, and violates 
the beauty of a cathedral finished in the rich pointed style 
of past ages, it will be proper for the intelligent observer, 
as we have elsewhere noticed, to place himself, for ex- 
ample, in the centre of Wykeham's magnificent fabric. 
" He will there view the massive cluster columns, like the 
trunks of huge trees in a grand vista, shooting out their 
main branches to form the grand arches of the nave, and 
thence towering up to a vast height, and ramifying into 
the various intersections of the vaulting ceiling. Corres- 
ponding with those branches, but in a different direction, 
are boughs, which meeting in a point with other boughs 
that grow from a series of smaller cluster columns on the 
opposite sides, form the enchanting perspective of the 
long drawn side-aisles. The intercolumniations of the 
nave are of course open to the body of the church; those 
of the side-aisles from the principal windows, down to 
within about fifteen feet from the pavement. These 
spaces have been decorated, by the taste and skill of 
Wykeham, with cinquefoil arches, and with mouldings 
exactly corresponding with the mullions of the windows, 
and being, in fact, a continuation of them down to the 
ground. Thus the whole main body of the church, as it 



166 INSIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 

came from the hands of its immortal founder, was, through- 
out, uniformly ornamented with a tasteful elegance that 
hardly admitted of any addition, and with a chaste sim- 
plicity that certainly allowed of no diminution." It is 
true that the violation of the symmetry and beauty, here 
described, is not contined to the cathedral of this city, nor 
to cathedrals of this kingdom. On the contrary, most of 
the Gothic churches on the continent exhibit grosser archi- 
tectural barbarisms, and a crreater contempt of the skill by 
which they were raised, than; are to be met with in our own. 
Still it is for the interest of science and of the arts, that 
errors and defects relating to them, however general and 
inveterate, should be pointed out, and that every one who 
has it in his power, should lend his aid to correct the 
public taste where it is vicious. It is not here intended 
to censure the practice of erecting monuments in ancient 
churches to the memory of distinguished personages : but 
any person, moderately skilled in the Pointed or Gothic 
Architecture, would show how a monument of any dimen- 
sions whatsoever, from a simple shield to a gorgeous mau- 
soleum, might be so constructed as not to disfigure but 
rather to decorate ancient cathedrals. The public is at 
length convinced of the impropriety of Inigo Jones's 
beautiful Grecian screen at the entrance of the choir. It 
will hereafter learn that every erection or ornament what- 
soever ought to assimilate with the style of the fabric to 
which it belongs. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



Supplement to t\)t Nmtlj ISDtttcm. 



To preserve entire and unbroken the order of Dr. Mil- 
ner's narrative, the Printers have transferred to a Supple- 
ment the correction of all such passages as were at 
variance with the existing condition and appearance of 
Winchester Cathedral. For whilst they were anxious to 
record the persevering liberality and taste of the capitular 
body, in renovating this stupendous fabric, they felt it im- 
possible to expunge several objectionable statements, 
without fettering the style and disturbing the course of 
that most animated and luminous description. They 
were aware that few writers had succeeded in vesting 
description with such charms of language and fancy, and 
that still fewer had brought to the study of ecclesiastical 
antiquity such a fund of critical observation and monastic 
lore. Under this conviction, they have re-printed the 
Historical Description of Winchester Cathedral in its ori- 
ginal garb, believing that the intelligent stranger will be 
much better satisfied with such a publication, than with 
a mere catalogue of objects, which he is requested to stare 
at to-day, and may possibly forget to-morrow. 

[Shines forth though all the disgraceful neglect of 
latter ages, p. 38.] A series of substantial repairs and embel- 
lishments have been completed in the cathedral, under the 
superintendence of Mr. Garbett, of this city. Among the 
former may be named, the re-construction of two flying 
buttresses on the south side of the presbytery, as well 
as of the canopies forming the apex of the east and west 
roof— the entire renewal of the stone mullions of several 

E 5 



170 SUPPLEMENT. 

windows of the presbytery, and the partial renewal and 
effectual repair of some other windows in the nave and 
aisle — a very extensive renovation of the stone vaulting 
of the eastern part of the edifice, said to have been built by 
Bishop de Lucy in the 12th century — also a considerable 
restoration of decayed timbers in the vaulted ceiling of 
the presbytery, constructed by Bishop Fox in the 16th 
century : the lead covering of the whole of this portion 
having been re-cast. In the walls and roofs of the tran- 
septs, very considerable repairs have been completed. In 
the north transept, several windows, the original apertures 
for which had been considerably enlarged for the introduc- 
tion of Gothic tracery, not of the most elegant composi- 
tion, have been restored to the Saxon figure and dimen- 
sions. An advantage has been gained by these alterations 
beyond mere unity of style — the beholder is enabled to 
appreciate the simple grandeur of the design after which 
this ancient part of the building was originally con- 
structed. The rude nature of the masonry, so far from 
offending the eye, is in strict accordance with the plain 
circular arches, which, springing from short massy pil^ 
lars, devoid of any ornament save a narrow billetted 
moulding, are piled, range above range, to the lofty 
timbers of the roof. But the most important repair that 
has been effected in this, or perhaps in any other cathe- 
dral, is the restoration of one of the immense pillars of 
the series between the nave and the south aisle. To 
accomplish so hazardous an undertaken, it was deemed 
advisable to provide an artificial support for three entire 
arches, for the dependent wall, the stone vaulting of the 
nave and aisle, and for the lead covering, whilst the 
masonry of the pillar was cut away and re-constructed. 
Two hundred and fifty loads of timber were required for 
the ponderous scaffolding which supported the superin- 
cumbent mass— a weight of little less than 400 tons. 
The contour of the church is now grand, solemn, and 
impressive to a degree. Its shrines ; monuments, and 



SUPPLEMENT. 171 

bulwarks, * shattered with age, and furrowed o'er with 
years,' are effectively repaired, decorated, and secured ; 
the unity of its proportions, as much as possible restored, 
and every unseemly object removed from its recesses. 

[ Be lingtorfs chantry consigned to dust and oblivion, Sfc. 
p. 49.] 'Justice' has been "done to this benefactor of 
our cathedral,' whose chantry is repaired, and placed in its 
former, situation. 

[_The elegant screen, (>f the Composite Order, raised by 
Inig'> Jones, p. 54. J Amongst the alterations which 
have been made in various parts of the cathedral, the 
new stone screen, at the entrance to the choir, deserves to 
be particularly mentioned. It is of the best Portland 
stone, aid a very pleasing imitation of the style which 
prevailed in the 14th and 15th centuries. In point of en- 
richment, it constitutes a medium between the western 
portal, and the highly-ornamented screen which terminates 
the presbytery. The design for it was imagined by a pre- 
bendary of the cathedral, revised by Mr. (Jarbett of this 
city, and executed under his superintendence. Handsome 
oak doors, corresponding in decoration with the style of 
the screen, have been substituted for those which were 
4 more fitting a tavern than a cathedral,' bearing upon the 
inner side, the date of their erection, and upon the other, 
the following brief exhortation, carved in old charac- 
ters : 

• Hijjtlate et orate.' 

[The tw<) bronze statues, $c. p, 54.] On the removal 
of Inigo Jones's screen, the bronze statues of James and 
Charles, w ? hich occupied its two niches, were necessarily 
displaced. These regal wortiues are now restored to a 
similar position, and their crowns, sceptres, and orna- 
ments, have been, very properly, re-gilt. Upon these, 
in the greater proficiency of modern art, the spectator will 
look with more curiosity than pleasure. No expression 
of figure or of attitude denotes the princely carriage of 



m 



SUPPLEMENT. 



their originals, nor are they worthy of serious atten- 
tion, unless, indeed, it be to compare their dark and 
lowering appearance, as monumental and historic me- 
morials, with the no less dark and lowering realities which 
chequered the youthful dominion of the father, and closed 
in dethronement and death the empire of his son. 

[The choir doors now opening, p. 56. The whole of 
this interesting and magnificent portion of the edifice is 
now seen to the best advantage. Its ornaments and sacred 
appendages have been entirely renewed— the canopies, 
pinnacles, and stalls, cleaned and painted. Whoever 
contrasts its present cleanliness and propriety with its dis- 
figured and dilapidated condition some twenty years ago, 
will be satisfied that a most liberal and persevering spirit, 
guided by a truly classical and appropriate taste, could 
alone have produced such a pleasing uniform, and exten- 
sive renovation. 

[A modern episcopal throne of the Corinthian Order, 
p. 6 I .] This cumbersome donation of Bishop Trelawney 
has been removed from the choir, and is now exalted, 
not ' on high above the people,' but on high above the 
first colonnade at the extremity of the northern transept. 
The new throne, which, since the repairs and restorations 
of the Cathedral, the Dean and Chapter, with a feeling 
equally creditable to their taste and munificence, have 
caused to be erected in the choir, was not quite completed 
during the life of the late bishop, though the arms of 
that prelate are in pale with those of the see, forming a 
prominent ornament in the composition. Considered as 
an attempt to supply a necessary feature in the choir, this 
handsome structure must be considered completely success- 
ful ; and it proves, notwithstanding the fastidious notions 
that generally prevail upon such subjects, how easily the 
spirit and effect of the ancient style may be attained, with- 
out degrading the taste and science of the architect to the 
drudgery of mere mechanical copying. The architectural 



SUPPLEMENT. 173 

design can only be appreciated by actual inspection from 
different points. The details of the structure are nearly all 
copied from ancient ornaments existing in the choir, and 
other parts of the Cathedral, while the general composition 
of the design Uas rather an original, though perfectly har- 
monious effect : the ascending groining and ribs of the 
canopy displaying variety of surface and richness of orna- 
ment to the greatest possible advantage, and the projecting 
gables and pendant pinnacles imparting an air of dignity 
and utility at once pleasing and intelligible. 

[The reign of Charles I., when the organ was placed 
in its present unsymmttrical situation, p. 62.] It was at 
one time intended, that the organ, as in St. Paul's and 
all other English cathedrals, should be erected on the 
new choir screen, which was architecturally intended for 
its reception, and many learned and ingenious arguments 
were adduced, to prove the propriety of placing it there. 
But, after much controversial and personal opposition, it 
has been consigned to its former lateral position beneath 
one of the vast arches which support the Norman tower of 
Walkelin. This arrrangement (which had the sanction 
of an eminent architect) is so far beneficial, inasmuch as it 
enables the spectatator, with one comprehensive glance, to 
embrace the extended view which breaks upon him as 
he enters the great western door, terminating in the 
richly-glovving enamel of the eastern window. The deco- 
rations of the organ -case have very properly been as- 
similated with the style of the fabric, and an appropriate 
winding staircase, tastefully carved, to communicate with 
the organ-loft and galleries overlooking the choir, has 
been erected. Being formed of wood, it has, perhaps, 
too flimsy an appearance; yet no better method could 
have been devised for introducing a necessary piece of 
furniture, and, at the same time, preserving unobstructed 
the outline of the piers. It does not exceed their projec- 
tion, whilst it skilfully displays, in miniature, the various 
features of the order to which it belongs. 

e 6 



174 SUPPLEMENT. 

[The altar-screen has been neglected for 300 years., 
and is clogged with du4, #c. p. 69.] This exquisite 
production of the chisel has been very carefully restored, 
and now presents an inimitable display of the art which 
attained such perfection under the dynasty of the Planta- 
genets. It has often been compared to the screen of St. 
Alban's Abbey, but is said to be much more elaborate in 
detail. 

[These statues were demolished at the Reformation as 
superstitious, p. 69.] Many curious specimens of sculp- 
ture, mutilated portions of religious statues, are arranged 
in a small chapel at the back of the altar, and, as tokens 
of religious madness, will excite the regret of every en- 
lightened mind. 

[ The rich paintings of the east window, clothed with 
dust and cobwebs, p. 71.] The beautiful windows of the 
presbytery have been thoroughly cleaned, and the orbs, 
groinings, and devices of the roof embellished and restored. 

[It is thought that his bones have been removed from 
their sepulchre p. 97.] On inquiring for the antique 
coffer which stood during so many years in a corner of 
Gardiner's chantry, and which was supposed by Dr. Mil- 
ner to contain the unshrouded and uncoffined remains of 
that merciless prelate, we were told that the chest had been 
burnt, and the bones properly disposed of. On opening 
the sepulchre, Gardiner's remains were found as secure 
and undisturbed, as when first committed to their resting 
place by his catholic brethren. It may, therefore, be asked, 
whether, when the end and aim of religious zeal were so 
grossly perverted by a set of reformed enthusiasts, the 
above unacknowledged relics were not purposely exposed 
in the chantry ; and whether this innocent deceit may not 
have been the means of preventing any sacrilegious attempt 
to violate the privacy of his grave. 

[Beaufort's chantry consigned to ruin equally by his 
family, fyc. p. 98.] The monumental depositary of 



SUPPLEMENT, 175 

this celebrated prelate"s remains has not been neglected 
during the recent renovations by the representative of his 
illustrious family, and to record this becoming attention, 
the Dean and Chapter have attached an elegant inscription 
to the walls of the chantry. 

[They had not any pernicious tendency, which re- 
quired them to he obliterated, p. 107.] The effects and 
influence^ of puritanical zeal are felt long after its stimulat- 
ing cause has ceased to exist, and even now, though the 
monuments of national religion are unpolluted by the 
mallet of the fanatic, or the sacrilegious halberd of the 
leaguer, there are many, it is to be feared, who would 
deface or consign to decay snch pleasing ornaments as 
these fresco paintings, forgetful of the important aids 
which they afforded during periods of mental darkness to 
the work of religious instruction. 

\_The west aisle of the north transept is now shut up, p. 
124.) The workshops are cleared away, and the coarser 
materials of workmanship deposited in the crypts. Iron 
enclosures have been placed at proper intervals, to prevent 
persons rambling at pleasure through the edifice during the 
celebration of divine worship. 

\_Our cathedrals are but the remnant of what they 
were, p. 139.] Dr. Milner, under feelings which we ho- 
nour and applaud, has spoken of the ancient magnificence 
of this cathedral, with an ardour and an enthusiam at once 
impressive and contagious; and some no doubt may be 
found even in the staunchest ranks of Protestantism, who 
sigh like the Jews of old, when they thought upon the 
riches of their second temple, and remembered the glory 
of the first. But it should never be forgotten, that ex- 
ternal pomp and ceremony in religious offerings, are as 
much at variance with the essential character of the Christ- 
ian dispensation, as they are powerless in convincing the 
judgment, or improving the heart. The ' still small voice' 
can only be heard, when the senses and the passions, like 



176 , SUPPLEMENT. 

the wind and the earthquake, are hushed and at rest.— 
We have now no pageantry, no incense, no holy water, no 
hallowed relics ; but we have a priesthood of ' men like 
ourselves;' a form of worship, simple, solemn, and impos- 
ing- ; a liturgy, plain and intelligible to every class. We 
have perfect liberty of conscience, and an exemption from 
bodily restraint. 

[Remarkable modern monuments, p. 140.] Of the monu- 
ments recently erected to the memory of individual worth, 
the stranger will partieularl) notice the one which, records 
the services of Lieut. -Cien. Sir Geo. Prevost, of Belmont 
in this county. Its principal subject is a weeping female 
figure, above whose head are various military trophies: 
the sword, helmet, laurel, &c, A long inscription sets 
forth the, rank, character, and services of the deceased, 
and an extended scroll, upon one side of the figure, dis- 
plays the words " St. Lucia taken— Dominica defended — 
Canada preserved." This cenotaph was executed by 
Chantry, and its arrangement, drapery, and emblems are 
deservedly admired. 

[Grecian vases, that uncharacteristically fill the niches 
in the a ] tar- screen, p. 144.] With the white- wash, gild- 
ing, and dirt, these vases, (the liberal bequest of Dr. Har- 
ris) have also been removed from the screen. Whatever 
may have been gained in correctness by this alteration, is 
certainly lost in effect, as the vacant spaces have now a 
very naked appearance. It will, perhaps, be found, that 
unless the deposed saints had been restored to their 
niches, no ornament could have been substituted so little 
at variance with the feelings of the age, and with the 
rules of architectural propriety. As good Protestants, 
we should prefer the ashes of the saints, to the saints 
themselves ; and then, by an easy transition, the Grecian 
vases, formerly so repugnant to scientific eyes, would 
become the cinerary urns of many very memorable per- 
sonages, 



SUPPLEMENT. 177 

\_The famous Master of Winchester College, Di\ War- 
ton, p. 148.] This monument is now placed at the ex- 
tremity of the great south aisle, near the west door, and 
suffers no disadvantage by the change of position. 

[TAere is but one modem monument in the Lady Chapel, 
p. 154.] A mural monument has since been erected in this 
chapel to the memory of the late reverend and benefi- 
cent bishop of the diocese, Dr. Rrownlow North. Placed 
to the ri^ht of, and parallel with, the altar, it occupies 
nearly the whole space between the table of the deca- 
logue and the wall. It is of fine statuary marble, in 
perfect alto-relievo, representing a full -sized figure of 
its venerable original, kneeling with extended hands 
and depressed countenance, in an attitude of humble 
but intense devotion. The lineaments of age — its acu- 
minated features and impending eye- brows — the bushy 
wig, and the flowing episcopal robes, have been wrought 
from the inanimate block with a fidelity that can only 
be surpassed by the humble and pious expression which 
appears to animate the countenance. i>y those who were 
acquainted with the departed prelate, it is esteemed an ad- 
mirable portrait, and the general execution must greatly 
enhance the previous reputation of the artist. Hot whether 
the design originated with the surviving relatives, or with 
Chantry himself, it has the rare merit of being equally ho- 
nourable to the deceased and to his representatives ; since 
no memorial so becoming could possibly be devised, as 
that which represents one of the greatest and wealthiest 
dignitaries of the church in an act of Christian humiliation. 
The following inscription records his particular merits : 

M.S. 

Keverendi admodum in Christo patris 

JJrowni,ow North, S. T. P. 

Francisei Coiuitis de Guilford filii uatn ininoris, 

Primo Lichfeldensis, 

Deinde Vigoruiensis, 

Postreino VVintoiiiensis Dioeceseos 

Episcopi. 

fa amp'issimum hunc dignitatis gradura erectus, 

JSquitate c'enientia, et propensa in gregem 

blbi commissum beniguitate 



178 SUPPLEMENT. 

Prsecipuum omnium amorem et venerationem 

Concilia vit : 

In rebus gerendis perspicaci prudentia, 

Et firmo et solerti judicio usus est : 

Uteris humanioribus apprime eruditus, 

Simplicein nitorem et elegantiam 

1b scripta et orationem transtulit : 

Ecolesiffi Anglicanae singulari affectu 

Devinctus, 

Fidem a primseva tfniiqtiitate derivatam 

Integre custodivit; 

Morbi ingravescentis cjolofes placide et constanter 

Perpessus, 

Vitam inorte commutavit 

Die Julii 12, anno salutis 1820, 

Hoc pietatis et desiderii 

Mo*, amentum 

Extare voluerunt 

Liberi superstiies. 

[In the north transept are various modern monuments, 
p. 156.] In this transept an elegant white tablet, on a 
ground of black marble, erected as ' a testimony of filial 
affection, duty and gratitude,' perpetuates the memories of 
Chaloner Ogle, £sq. and of Catherine, his faithful wife. 
In the west aisle of the same transept, an impressive inscrip- 
tion, upon a plain black slab, records 4 the fortitude, the 
benevolence, and the ardent affections' of Anne Poulter, 
(daughter of the Rev. Mr. Poulter, a Prebendary of the 
Cathedral), and ' the unutterable grief of the person who 
placed the stone.' In the great north aisle of the nave 
is a handsome mural monument to the memory of Dr. 
Crawford, an eminent physician of this city, who died in 
April, 1824. The ground is a pyramid of grey marble, 
supporting in relief a weeping female figure, reclining 
upon an urn. 



THE END. 



BOBBINS AND WHEELER, PRINTERS, WINCHESTER. 



Supplement, June 1, 1830. 

Stortent dfre^ctf $afntfttg& 



(From a Curious MS. of the late Rev. and Learned 
Antiquary, Dr. Milner.) 

St. Mary's, or, as it is commonly termed, 
" the Lady" Chapel, is situated at the east 
end of Winchester Cathedral. The walls, on 
each side, from the altar to the space occu- 
pied by the stalls, are covered with fresco 
paintings, now nearly obliterated, originally 
meant to represent different miracles sup- 
posed to have been wrought by the inter- 
cession of the Virgin Mary. It appears, 
however, that, in the choice of the subjects, 
the painter had more in view the display of 
his art than the authenticity of his histories, 
which are drawn from sources the Catholics 
themselves despise. For though they have 
the greatest confidence in the efficacy of the 
Virgin Mary's intercession, and though they 
admit the continuation of miracles in general, 
yet they pay no more respect to the credit of 



2 ANCIENT PAINTINGS 

certain writers concerning particular instan- 
ces of miracles, than the majority of Pro- 
testants do. 

One of these paintings relates to a miracle 
supposed to have been performed on St. John 
Damascen, accused of a treacherous corres- 
pondence with the Court of Constantinople, 
whose hand having been struck off, and hung 
up in the market place, was, through the 
intercession of the Virgin, restored to the 
mutilated wrist, and the innocence of the 
sufferer thereby established. 

Another represents a young maiden deli- 
vered by the interposition of the Virgin from 
the lawless desires of a Norman Knight, 
who places her in a convent, and, in reward 
of his forbearance, is brought at the hour of 
death to the grace of a true repentance and 
conversion. 

The execution of a certain hypocritical 
Jew forms the subject of another painting ; 
but it is too much defaced to pronounce upon 
the meaning with any certainty. 

The history of an artist of Brabant, is ex- 
hibited in a fourth of these paintings. He 
was celebrated for pourtraying in his pictures 
the beauty of the Virgin and the ugliness of 
the Devil. Out of resentment, the Devil one 
day threw down the scaffold on which he 
was standing, with an intention to destroy 
him, when the picture he was painting ex- 



IN ST. MARYS CHAPEL. O 

tended in a miraculous manner a substantial 
arm to his support, and preserved him from 
falling. 

The battle between the renowned Guy of 
Warwick, who was devoted to the Blessed 
Virgin, and Colbrand the Danish Champion, 
was also represented on the walls of this 
chapel, but the painting is now in too imper- 
fect a state to detect the particulars. 

The following legends are delineated in 
other compartments on the walls of this 
chapel : 

A certain poor woman, having lost her 
only child, who had been stolen from her, 
was constantly employed in praying for his 
discovery One day, however, her impatience 
carried her so far as to take away the figure 
of the infant from a statue of the Virgin, by 
way of pledge for the restitution of her son, 
which she afterwards shut up in a large chest. 
The story tells us, that the Virgin, pitying 
the simplicity and distress of this poor 
woman, appeared the ensuing night to the 
little captive in the place of his confinement, 
and delivering him from thence, conducted 
him straight home to his mother, who there- 
upon restored her pledge to the place from 
whence she had taken it. In the piece, the 
woman is represented as taking away the 
image, and, in another place, as bringing it 
out of her chest in order to replace it, while 



4 ANCIENT PAINTINGS 

her child makes his appearance at the oppo- 
site side. 

From an old menology the painter has 
availed himself of the following legend: 

A woman of some distinction, of the 
town of Harni, having been delivered of a 
child perfectly black, was accused by her 
husband of having violated his bed with a 
Moorish servant he kept in his family, and 
was therefore expelled his house, together 
with her infant. Upon this, in a fit of despair, 
she hastened to a neighbouring pond, and, 
in the presence of many persons, threw her- 
self into it together with her child, having 
first, however, conjured the Blessed Virgin, 
by some means or another, to vindicate her 
innocence. Whenlo! as she was just sinking, 
the Virgin appeared to her walking on the 
water, and conducted her safe to land, when 
looking upon the infant, whom she still held 
in her arms, she found its colour changed to 
a more than usual whiteness. 

The following history from Gregory of 
Tours occupies another division of these 
paintings : 

In the reign of Constantine the Great, 
when magnificent temples were, by his com- 
mand, erected to the true God in different 
parts of the Roman empire, it happened, that 
in building a certain church, in Gaul, conse- 
crated under the patronage of the Blessed 



in st. mary's chafel. 5 

Virgin Mary, some columns of such pro- 
digious bulk were prepared, that no force of 
man was able to raise them up to their 
proper place. In this extremity, when all 
human help failed, the Blessed Virgin ap- 
peared to the chief workman in his sleep, 
and after reproaching him with his diffidence, 
taught him the use of a certain machine, con- 
sisting of pullies, ropes, &c. by means of 
which she assured him that three children 
from the adjoining school should achieve the 
work in question. The machine is therefore 
constructed according to the directions of this 
heavenly visitant, the three children are 
brought to work it, and every one sees with 
astonishment these infants performing a feat 
of strength which so many able men had 
abandoned in despair. In the picture, the 
master builder, with his square and other 
implements of his profession, is seen kneeling 
before the Virgin, who, by the expression of 
her fingers, seems explaining something to 
him. Near the walls of the church the 
children also appear working their machine 
with great cheerfulness and success. 

The following miracle^ which is said to be 
extant in the monuments of the church of 
Burburg, near Dunkirk, in the Low Countries, 
has also been recorded by the painter of this 
chapel. In the year 1383, Charles the French 
king, having beat the Flandricans at the 



"U ANCIENT PAINTINGS 

battle of Rosbec, and taken the adjoining 
town of Burburg, gave it up to his soldiers 
to be pillaged, with the exception, however, 
of the churches, which, with all that belonged 
to them, he commanded to be preserved in- 
violate. But, in tk heat of military licen- 
tiousness, this exception was ill attended to. 
In the church of St. John the Baptist in par- 
ticular, a certain soldier, of the province of 
Bretagne, who had forcibly entered it, en- 
deavoured to demolish a statue of the Virgin, 
in order to make spoil of it, thinking from 
the golden ornaments with which it was 
covered, that it was entirely composed of 
that precious metal; but the first blow proved 
fatal to him : he fell down dead at the foot 
of the statue, and his body contracted that 
stiffness and solidity which no weapon what- 
ever could make any impression upon ; at 
the same time, a copious effusion of blood 
issued from the statue, in the same manner 
as if it had been from the wound of a human 
body, which a poor woman who was praying 
in the church wiped up with her veil ; but in 
such a manner that the statue ever after re- 
tained the bloody marks of the soldier's 
violence; while no kind of washing could 
ever efface the appearance of blood from the 
woman's veil. In the picture, the soldier is 
seen hurling a stone at the statue of the 
Virgin, and the same soldier is seen in another 



IN ST. MARYS CHAPEL. 



place, <lead and stiff on the ground. The 
poor woman, of whom mention has been 
made, is seen upon her knees. 



On the subject of ^he inscriptions that 
accompanied these paintings, it is to be re- 
marked, that, at the end of most of them, 
there appears to be a reference to an account 
of them, which was probably contained in 
some le r end well known at the time, though 
not to b met with now, either in the cathe- 
dral library or any where else. Many of the 
inscriptions might still be made out by any 
one that would take the necessary pains, 
and who, besides, being skilled in the black 
letter, was also acquainted with the usual 
abreviations of the monkish writers. 

Of the merit of the paintings themselves, 
it may be said, on the authority of a gentle- 
man whose merit in a sister art has received 
the highest mark of distinction, (Warton 
the poet) that had these compartments been 
entire, thev would form the most valuable 
pieces in this kingdom of the age in which 
they were executed. The motive for de- 
facing them must have been either a notion 
of the impropriety of paintings in general in 
churches, or of the idolatrous tendency of 
these in particular. The former opinion, which 
long prevailed, is now almost universally ex- 






8 ANCIENT PAINTINGS. 

ploded. In effect, religion in all its branches 
may be too much refined, as well as too much 
encumbered, nor is the proper medium to be 
calculated to the understanding of philoso- 
phers, but to that of the bulk of mankind. 
With respect to the latter, there are many 
still who think they cannot form too gross 
an idea of the religion of our ancestors, par- 
ticularly with respect to the articles ~ r : 
and pictures, and that ot 
the Virgin Mary. But it 
have not sought for their ( de- 

cisions of their councils, and the writi 
( their most orthodox divines, wno are inclined 
to judge so unfavourably of them ; or who 
can suppose their pictures were intended for 
worship ; or that their respect to the Blessed 
Virgin approached to the nature of divine 
honour. A pious credulity which seems to 
have given credit to the stories here deli- 
neated, might, it is true, have led individuals 
into errors ; but, in the canons of councils, 
and the writings of orthodox divines, nothing 
is to be met with extravagant, or superior to 
the dignity of a saint, who, at the same time 
that she was a mere creature, was pronounced 
by a heavenly oracle to be fall of grace, and 
blessed through all generations. 



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